


I Don't Like Your Girlfriend

by BritHistorian



Category: Weki Meki (Band)
Genre: Accidental Drug Use, Break Up, Brownies, Chicken and Beer, Drama, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Multi, Scheming, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-25 04:37:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 53
Words: 76,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13826640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BritHistorian/pseuds/BritHistorian
Summary: Suyeon likes Sei.  But Sei's dating Lucy.  Lua wants to get back with Rina.  But Rina's dating Elly now.  And Doyeon and Yoojung are just clinging to each other as the whole band goes to hell around them.





	1. Chapter 1

Suyeon was sitting in the living room of Weki Meki's apartment, watching the group's videos over and over on a loop: "I Don't Like Your Girlfriend," then "Butterfly," then "La la la," then start over again. She'd been at this for about an hour when Doyeon finally had enough. Approaching her group's leader, she stood squarely between Suyeon and the TV, blocking her view. Suyeon leaned to the side, trying to see around her.

"I was watching that," she said.

Turning off the TV, Doyeon came over and sat on the couch facing Suyeon. "I know. You've been watching nothing but our videos every spare minute for the past month. If I didn't know you better, I'd think you were either super vain or else losing your grip on reality."

"What?" Suyeon tried to look innocent. "I'm just reviewing our choreography."

Doyeon rolled her eyes. "Do I look stupid to you? First of all, I know that by the time we made those videos you already knew the choreography well enough that if the rest of the group was abducted by aliens you could grab seven random trainees and recreate Weki Meki by the end of the afternoon. Secondly -" she counted off the points on her fingers, "if you were reviewing our choreography, you'd be watching the choreography vids rather than the official M/Vs. And finally, if you really were just reviewing our choreography, you wouldn't be watching 'Butterfly' at all, because we don't have choreography for that."

Suyeon leaned back and crossed her arms. "OK then," she said, "if you're so smart, what do you think I'm really doing?"

Doyeon leaned toward Suyeon so that their conversation could be kept quiet. "It's not about thinking. It's all about watching your facial expressions." Suyeon opened her mouth to say something, but Doyeon kept on talking. "Yeah, yeah, you're about to say you weren't making any facial expressions. Well, you were making a good attempt at it, but since you've been hogging the TV all month, I've had plenty to time to watch you."

Suyeon looked dubious. "And what do you think you've figured out?"

A knowing grin spread across Doyeon's face. She leaned in closer to Suyeon. "I've figured out that you've got a thing for Sei."

"I do not!"

Doyeon scoffed. "You think you're so hard to read, Suyeon, but it might as well be written across your forehead. Every time Sei comes on screen, the corners of your mouth turn up just a little bit, in the tiniest little smile. And every time Sei and Lucy are on screen together - especially if Lucy's touching Sei - you get a little scowl line right here between your eyebrows."

Suyeon flung herself back into the depths of the couch. "Even if you're right -"

"I am right!"

"Even if you're right," Suyeon began again, "so what? Sei and Lucy are together, and have been since we were filming 'I Don't Like Your Girlfriend'."

Doyeon scooted closer to Suyeon. "So? Didn't you see what happened last week?"

Suyeon looked puzzled. "What?"

Doyeon laughed softly. "For someone who's so observant, sometimes you really don't see what's going on around you. Last week you got your hair dyed black. And then the next day, Sei got hers dyed red."

"Yeah. And?"

Doyeon began talking lower and slower, as if explaining this to a child. "She dyed her hair red so that you two would still be a matched set: A brunette and a redhead, both with bangs. And besides that," she looked around to be sure they were still alone before continuing, "besides that, I talked to Lucy yesterday, and she knows that she's just a replacement girl, that she's only there because Sei got tired of waiting for you. She told me that if you made a play for Sei, she'd put up the appearance of a fight in order to save face, but that she wouldn't stand in your way."

"Really?"

Doyeon nodded significantly. "I think you'll find them in the park."

Suyeon hugged Doyeon before jumping up and looking around for her shoes. "Thanks," she said, "I owe you one."

As soon as Suyeon was out the door, Yoojung came around the corner and flopped down on the couch next to Doyeon. "Did Lucy really say that?" she asked.

Doyeon scoffed. "No. She doesn't know that Suyeon's got a crush on Sei. I don't even know if Sei knows."

Yoojung knitted her brows in puzzlement. "What about the hair thing then?"

"That?" Doyeon shrugged. "That was stylist-nim's idea. Sei didn't even like the new color until I'd spent half an hour reassuring her."

Youjung stretched up and kissed Doyeon on the nose. "You're evil. You know that, don't you? Causing drama between our members like this."

"The thing about drama," Doyeon said as she picked up the remote and turned on a basketball game, "is that eventually it ends. But there's no limit to how long Suyeon could pine for Sei, and if I had to spend one more day listening to our songs on constant loop, I was going to scream."

Youjung cuddled up to Doyeon and turned her attention to the game. "I still think you're evil," she said.

Doyeon put her arm around Youjung. "And you love me anyway."


	2. Chapter 2

Suyeon had just left the apartment and started down the stairs to exit the building when she heard her name being called. She turned around and Lua rushing to catch up with her. Any thoughts she might have had of trying to make an excuse and get away abruptly vanished when she saw how sad the normally cheerful member looked.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she sat down on the stairs and gestured for the other girl to sit down by her.

Lua plopped down next to Suyeon, put her arm around her leader's shoulder, and started crying. "Suyeon, what's wrong with me?" she asked. "There's got to be something wrong with me - what is it? You can tell me. I can take it. What is it?"

Suyeon started stroking the other girl's hair. "What makes you think there's something wrong with you?"

Lua sniffled and tried to regain control of herself. "Rina and I had a stupid argument and split up, and when I went to try to apologize to her and get back together, she told me that she was dating Elly now. So now I'm the only member who's not dating someone."

"No you're not," Suyeon said gently, still stroking Lau's hair. "I'm not dating anyone."

Lua shook her head. "No, that's different. Not only are you the leader, you're the oldest unnie. All the girls are scared to try to date you."

Suyeon was totally surprised by this idea. "No they're not. They can't be."

Lua nodded vigorously. "They are. One of the members told me that she had a crush on you, but she was afraid to say so."

"Who said that?"

"Nope. I promised not to tell." Lua mimed crossing her heart.

"You've got to tell me! You can't just hint at something like that and not tell me!" Suyeon pretended to choke Lua before she broke down laughing.

"You see!" Lua exclaimed, joining in the laughter. "This is why the members are afraid of you. Because you can laugh while choking me!"

Suyeon folded her hands in her lap and made a big show of not laughing, which was spoiled by an occasional hint of a smile creeping out. "So ... you want me to help you find a new girlfriend? I've gotta be a matchmaker and hunt someone down for you?"

"Not so much that," Lua said, "as I just want you to help me split up Rina and Elly so I've got a chance to win my girl back."

Suyeon rolled her eyes. "As if it's gonna be that easy. You of all people should know how hard it is to get Rina to change her mind once it's made up. While you're wishing for impossible things, why don't you just wish for me to set you up with Jennie from Blackpink?"

Lua's eyes lit up. "Do you think you could?"

"No! I don't even know Jennie!"

"But," Lua protested, "you do know one of her members. She could introduce you to Jennie and then you can hook me up."

"I talked to Jisoo for 3 minutes when we were on Inkigayo - I'd hardly classify that as 'knowing her.' I doubt she even remembers me."

Now it was Lua's turn to roll her eyes. "You need to answer more of the fan mail if you think you're that forgettable. Speaking of which, the fans want to see you as a blonde."

"They do not!" 

Lua nodded. "They do. The fans have very definite opinions. They want you as a blonde, they want me as a blonde again, and they want Sei as a brunette again."

Suyeon froze. Why did Lua mention Sei? Had she figured out Suyeon's crush too, or was this an innocent coincidence? Before she had a chance to decide what to say, Lua had turned the conversation in a different direction.

Lua reached into her pocket and pulled out a joint and a lighter. "Since you're so not scary, you want to smoke up with me?"

Suyeon scowled. "No. And if you want me to help you with whatever crazy plan you've got to win Rina back, you're going to quit as of right now."

"Say what?"

"Or I start telling Rina what a great couple I think she and Elly are."

"You wouldn't dare."

Suyeon just stared at her, not saying anything. After a full 30 seconds, she said "You know I never liked that you did that. If you think I won't use whatever leverage I've got to get you to quit..."

"Fine!" Lua got up, tore the joint into pieces, and threw it into the trash can at the head of the stairs.

Suyeon nodded her approval. "And the lighter. And anything you've got stashed in your room."

Lua tossed the lighter in the trash. "That's everything," she said. "I don't risk keeping a lot of stuff around, and I don't smoke nearly as much as you seem to think I do."

"You smoke enough, and that's too much." Suyeon said, as if this made sense. "Have you seen how red your eyes are in the 'Butterfly' video?"

"That wasn't from smoking," Lua said, sitting back down by Suyeon. "That was from crying. Rina and I were fighting all that week, all over the stupidest things."

"And you're sure you want her back?" Suyeon asked.

Lua nodded. "No one else can hurt me like she can, but no one else can make me feel as good as she can, either."

Suyeon recognized the sentiment. "OK. I'll help you out. What I need from you is just to stay out of my way and let me work. I've got some ideas, but there are going to be times when you wonder what the hell I'm doing. You've just got to trust me that I do know what I'm doing."

"I can do that. Oh, and Suyeon - thank you so much." Lua was so overcome with feelings that she almost drowned Suyeon in hugs and kisses. She was so overcome, and so effusive in her thanks, that neither one of them saw Rina and Elly turn the corner at the bottom of the stairs and start heading up.


	3. Chapter 3

Rina looked up the stairs and saw Lua hugging and kissing Suyeon. She grabbed Elly by the arm and stopped her for going any further up the stairs.

"Come on," she said, "let's take the other stairs."

"What?" Elly looked up and saw what had set Rina off. "Oh."

As Rina led her away, Elly yelled up the stairs. "Get a room, you two! None of us want to see that."

Rina whirled around and pushed Elly up against the wall under the stairs. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked.

Elly shrugged. "Don't you think she deserves it? This morning she was all 'Rina, take me back, I'll love you forever,' and now this afternoon she's all over Suyeon. What's her deal?"

Rina looked deeply into her new girlfriend's eye. "Whatever her deal is, I don't want to her you dissing her. I believed her when she said how much she loves me, and I think whatever she's feeling for Suyeon is just as real. Lua's got problems, but she's not dishonest. With her, what you see is what you get."

"Yeah but -"

Rina interrupted whatever Elly was about to say by putting a finger on her lips. "But nothing. She was my first love, and I'm always going to have a soft spot with her. But now I'm with you. But I'm with you because I like you, not because I hate her. Besides, she's one of our members. No matter what happened between her and me, we've got to be able to perform with her, to sit with her during an interview, and even to perform fanservice with her if needed."

Elly tried to open her mouth to say something, but Rina pressed her finger more firmly on her mouth. "No," she said. "Don't say anything. I want to be with you, but I don't want there to be any drama because of it. Which means I need you not to start any drama. Even if - no, especially if - Lua is dating Suyeon now, I need you to not start any drama. If Lua has found someone else who makes her happy, she won't start some kind of drama trying to get me to break up with you." She leaned forward, moved her finger, and gently kissed Elly on the mouth. "Can you do that for me?"

Elly took a deep breath, breathing in Rina's scent. "I can do that," she said, "but only because you asked me to. The last few months have been so hard for me, watching you with her, seeing that she was hurting you . . ."

Rina took Elly's hand and started leading her toward the other stairs. "It wasn't all like that. I was hurting her too. I don't know what the deal was - when we were good together, we were so good, but when we were having problems, we were tearing each other apart."

"Well, that part was what I saw. Anyway, we get so little time together, I don't want to snatch a few minutes with you only to have you spend them talking about Lua. I'll leave her alone because you asked me to, but if she hurts you again, I'll . . ." Elly was brought up short by Rina getting in her face and staring into her eyes.

"Hmmm," Rina said, "your eyes are turning green - I think someone is jealous!" She planted a quick kiss on the tip of Elly's nose, than took off up the stairs, Elly in hot pursuit.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Elly caught Rina just before they reached their apartment door. She wrapped her arms around her and kissed her.

"I admit, I was a little jealous," Elly said, "but I'll do like you said - no problems out of me."

Rina returned Elly's kiss. "It'll be worth it. You'll see."

When they got into the apartment, they saw Sei and Lucy in the kitchen fixing dinner and Doyeon, Yoojung, Suyeon, and Lua watching basketball on TV. Doyeon was on one end of the couch, her arm around Yoojung, who was leaning against her. Suyeon was sitting at the other end of the couch with Lua sitting on the couch next to her. Elly thought she had never seen two people who were trying so hard to look like they weren't together, but if that was what they wanted, she wasn't going to spoil their secret. Suyeon apparently heard them come in, because she looked back to look at them over the back of the couch and called out. "OK. Now that everybody's here: I need everybody to be at dinner tonight. I got an email from manager-nim today, something important, and I wanted to tell you all about it at dinner."

"Which is right now!" Lucy called out, helping Sei carry bowls of ramen to the table.

Once they were all at the table and had bowls of ramen in front of them, Suyeon pulled out her phone. "OK, here's what manager-nim wrote: If I had to guess based on what I've seen at your last few public appearances, I would guess that Doyeon and Jooyung are dating, Sei and Lucy are dating, and Rina and Lua just recently split up and now Rina is dating Elly. I shouldn't be able to guess all that. You've got to hint at all possible ships in order to keep all your fans happy. Look at Blackpink: One week Lisa's doing the prom photo shoot with Jennie, the next week she's at the airport with Jisoo clinging to her arm, and then the next week she's out doing archery with Rose. That's how you need to do it. Until you figure out how to do this naturally, draw lots every day to see who to pretend you're in a ship with."

Suyeon put the phone away. "Since we're all here tonight, I figured we could go ahead and draw lots for the outing for the radio interview tomorrow now. Any objections?"

Everyone shoot their heads, so Suyeon started drawing slips of paper from a cup. "OK. For tomorrow, it's going to be Yoojung and Elly, Lua and Lucy, Rina and Doyeon, and Sei and me."

For a moment Doyeon looked like she was about to say something, then she shut her mouth. Then she opened it again: "So we draw new lots every day?"

Suyeon nodded. "Every day. You don't go out without your partner, you don't go out with anyone but your partner. Manager-nim said she'll be watching the fan boards to see if they're being fooled, and if not, then she'll have to take more drastic measures."

Lucy gulped, her eyes huge. "More drastic than this? What could that be?"

"I don't know," Suyeon said, "and I hope we don't find out." And with that she picked up her chopsticks and started slurping her noodles.


	4. Chapter 4

They were heading out to get into the van for the radio interview when Doyeon pulled Suyeon aside.

"I know manager-nim didn't write that email," Doyeon quietly said into Suyeon's ear.

"Wha-?" Suyeon looked obviously confused.

"You're a terrible liar," Doyeon said. "But don't worry - I see what you're doing and I'm on your side. As long as you don't do anything to hurt me and Sooyung, I won't tell the members."

"But," Suyeon protested, "that email really was from manager-nim!"

Doyeon shrugged. "That's the story. And I'll stick to it until you give me a reason not too."

Suyeon saw there was no way she was going to change Doyeon's mind, so she just nodded, thanked her, and headed for the van.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

When they got to the radio station, they saw a large group of fans lining both sides of the walkway they'd have to take to get from the van to the building. Suyeon grabbed the megaphone she kept under her seat in the van and told the others to wait and let her talk to the fans first.

"Hello everybody," she called out with the megaphone. The fans cheered wildly.

"We won't be signing things today," she said, after noticing that several of the fans were holding CDs and Sharpies. "We can't take a chance of getting sick and spoiling our comeback!" At the mention of the upcoming comeback, the fans' cheering doubled and they no longer looked sad about the fact that the band wouldn't be signing things. Suyeon waited for them to quiet down a little, then said "Fantagio hasn't told us yet what your fandom name is going to be, but please keep supporting us, and as soon as they tell us we can, we'll do a Vlive and let you know!"

Suyeon put the megaphone away, then gestured for the others to come out. She stood still for a second, watching the others to see how well they played their parts and to see how the fans reacted. Rina and Doyeon were doing great - Doyeon was walking along in her model walk, looking as tall and elegant as ever, while Rina was clinging to her arm, as if she was counting on Doyeon to take care of her. Lua and Lucy were so cute together. They skipped along holding hands, stopping whenever a fan asked to take their picture. They definitely had fanservice down. Youjung and Elly walked together, stopping from time to time to put their heads together and whisper. Suddenly Suyeon felt herself being pulled off-balance by an arm around her waist. She looked over and saw Sei standing next to her. "Hey there," Sei said. "Remember me? You're supposed to be paying attention to me!" Suyeon put her arm around Sei's shoulders and squeezed her in a side-hug. She looked over at Sei and felt her mouth drying out. Even though Sei was only about a centimeter shorter than Suyeon, she managed to give off an aura of petiteness that made Suyeon feel powerful whenever they were together. Suyeon leaned over and planted a kiss on top of Sei's head, said "How could anyone not pay attention to you?" Then together they walked into the radio station.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

As they rode in the van back to their dorm, Suyeon mentally replayed the interview in her head. There weren't any obvious flubs, and there were quite a few things that she was sure the fans would have turned into memes by now. One bit that she particularly liked was the interplay between one of her answers and one of Sei's. She'd been asked what kind of man was her ideal type, and she said "From being the leader of Weki Meki, I'm used to being in change, so it'd have to be a man who could handle letting me have my way." Then later in the interview, Sei had been asked "If you were a man, which one of your band members would you date. In an answer that couldn't have been more perfect if they'd planned it, she said "Suyeon, because I'd just have to see if I could make her forget about having her own way." Coming after the two of them had played at ships for the fans, this was sure to be the talk of the message boards tonight.

"Hey! Earth to Suyeon!"

Suyeon shook her head and looked around, to discover that Sei was leaning against her and shaking her arm.

"Oh, good, you're back!" Sei said. "For a while you were off in your own little world there. It was kind of creepy."

"Oh, I was just thinking about the interview."

Now it was Sei's turn to shake her head. "You're always all business. Don't you ever get tired of it?"

"But, it is a business," Suyeon protested. "Why shouldn't I take it seriously."

"No, no, no, no," Sei said, shaking her head. "The rest of us take it seriously. You obsess. The time you spent watching basketball yesterday was the first time you've taken a break in months."

"I take breaks."

"Sleeping doesn't count." Sei said firmly. "And neither does watching our videos over and over again. No, when we get back to the dorm, you and I are playing basketball, one on one. If I win, then you have to let me and Lucy give you a makeover tonight."

"And what if I win?" Suyeon asked.

"If you win - not that you will, but if you did, then I'll help you make up the shipping schedule for the week so we can post it on the fridge."

And with that, Sei leaned on Suyeon, fell asleep, and napped for the rest of the way back to the dorm. Suyeon sat very still so as not to wake her.


	5. Chapter 5

Suyeon changed into workout clothes and went to wait for Sei at the basketball courts in the park by their dorm. She walked around in circles, lazily dribbling the ball, trying to ignore their members who had come to watch this game. If Suyeon had known how much was riding on this game, she probably still wouldn't have been nervous - as far as was concerned, she won either way, because win or lose she got to spend extra time with Sei. But the fact of the matter is, from all the various bets riding on this game, about a week and a half of household chores stood to change hands. It was generally considered that Doyeon was the only girl in the group who was better at basketball than Suyeon, so all the unnies bet on Suyeon. The maknaes, on the other hand, felt the need to support one of their own and so bet on Sei. Lucy had bet particularly heavily on Sei - if Sei won, Lucy wouldn't have to do any chores for a month, whereas if Sei lost, Lucy would be doing dishes every night for a month. So it was with far more than casual interest that she was watching the game.

Suyeon heard Sei walk up behind her. "You ready to play?"

Suyeon turned around and immediately felt her mouth start getting dry. If Sei wasn't aware of the effect that she was having on Suyeon, then this had to be the luckiest outfit choice in the history of clothes. She had her hair up in a high ponytail, which was a look Suyeon always loved on her. She was wearing a cropped top and had the top of her shorts turned down, exposing her toned abs. And between her short shorts and her low socks her legs, already long, looked even longer.

Not trusting her voice, Suyeon simply nodded.

"Usual rules, play to 21?" Sei asked.

Suyeon nodded again.

Sei took a step toward Suyeon and said quietly. "Good luck."

Suyeon had to cough a couple of times between she was able to choke out a "good luck." Sei, who was already heading for center court with the ball, looked back over her shoulder and smiled at her. Suyeon felt butterflies in her stomach.

When Sei reached center court, she called out "Go!", turned around and made a drive for the basket. Suyeon was able to touch the ball with her fingertips as Sei shot, but it wasn't enough to keep the ball from going in.

Suyeon retreated to half-court and then started her own drive for the basket. She was charging straight up the center with a plan to pivot at the last second to get a clear shot. It could have worked, had she not been distracted by the sight of Sei moving forward to guard her. She mis-dribbled the ball and it bounced off to the side. Sei grabbed the ball, faded back, and sank a shot from beyond the three-point line. Two shots and Sei was already ahead 5 to nothing, almost a quarter of the way to winning the game.

This pattern continued throughout the rest of the game, almost every time Sei touched the ball, she scored. Almost every time Suyeon touched the ball, she fumbled it. And if Suyeon had hoped she would get used to the sight of Sei on the court, her hopes were dashed when Sei started to sweat and the glistening wetness highlighted her lean muscles and soft skin. Suyeon was sure she'd suffered worse losses, but never a more embarrassing one. Finally Sei stole the ball from her as if she wasn't even trying to defend and sank yet another 3-pointer, bringing the final score to 21-11.

Suyeon heard the maknaes cheering, but she only had eyes for Sei, who had advanced to stand directly in front of her, mere inches away. Suyeon could feel the heat radiating off of Sei's body. She felt the butterflies return to her stomach as Sei stared deep into her eyes and said "Tonight, after dinner, you're getting a makeover. Unless you want a rematch: If you win, it'll be same as if you'd won this game - I'll help you with the shipping schedule. If you lose, I get to broadcast your makeover on Vlive."

Suyeon knew that in the state she was in, there was no way she could win a rematch, so she just shook her head. "No rematch."

Sei had never known Suyeon to back down from a challenge like this. Obviously there was more going on here than met the eye. She smirked at Suyeon and turned just in time to find Lucy, who had rushed across the court to congratulate her, picking her up and spinning her around.

"You were amazing!" Lucy said, kissing Sei on the cheek.

"I did OK," Sei said, "but it wouldn't have been enough if Suyeon hadn't been off her game." She looked at Suyeon, who was staring off into the distance. Something was up here, and she intended to find out what it was.


	6. Chapter 6

Suyeon came out of the shower to find Sei waiting for her.

"There you are!" Sei exclaimed. "So glad you're not one of those girls who takes forever in the shower. Go wait for me in my room, and as soon as I've grabbed a quick shower I'll be in to start your makeover."

"But what about -" Suyeon began.

"Lua's agreed to hang out in the common room until I'm done with your makeover. She's fine."

"And what about -" Suyeon began again.

"I'll bring your dinner in when I come to start your makeover. Now just go relax and I'll be there in a few minutes."

As she relaxed on Sei's bed, reading a fashion magazine that she'd found there, Suyeon found herself wondering where all of this was going. She knew why she had agreed to the bet, but why had Sei offered her the bet in the first place? Was Doyeon right, and Sei felt the same about Suyeon as Suyeon felt about her? If so, wasn't this kind of a roundabout way to go about it?

Between the large amount of her attention occupied by her questions and the much smaller part occupied by the magazine, the next thing she knew, Sei was standing in the doorway carrying 2 plates of food.

"Hi there!" she called out. "I hope you don't mind - it was Rina's turn to fix dinner tonight."

Suyeon rolled her eyes. "Kim chi fried rice?"

Sei nodded. "She swears she's learning a second dish, but hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet."

Sei kicked the door shut and came and sat on the bed by Suyeon. Handing her one of the plates and a pair of chopsticks, she said "This will be nice. I feel like a know all the other members, but you're always so very busy that even after all this time you're still kind of a mystery to me."

Suyeon laughed as stirred the fried rice with her chopsticks. "There's really not much of a mystery," she said. "I like to sing and dance. I like basketball and field hockey. I like to play piano. I like to draw even though I'm terrible at it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're 164 cm tall and your blood type is O." Sei gestured dismissively with her chopsticks. "I could find all that from a fan magazine profile. I'm talking about actually knowing you, like as a person. Right now if one of the members asked for my help in setting you up on a blind date, not only do I not know your type, I don't even know if I should tell them to send a boy or a girl. Or maybe you're greedy and I should have them send one of each? After dinner, while I'm doing your makeover, is going to be my chance to get to know you. Now dig in - Rina's kim chi fried rice is always better when it's hot."

They both ate in silence for a while - neither of them had had anything to eat since lunch, which had been several hours, a radio interview, and a game of basketball ago.

When they had both finished eating, Sei gathered up their plates and put them on her dresser. While walking back to the bed, she took a moment to look Suyeon up and down. "I was thinking we'd start with your hair, then do your makeup, then I'll dress you up, and then I'll take pictures of you."

"Wait a second - you didn't say anything about pictures!"

Sei scoffed. "Of course there are going to be pictures, silly! What's the point of a makeover without a photo shoot after?"

Suyeon decided to concede the point - she could always fight the pictures later, if she ended up not liking the makeover.

Sei sat down by her on the bed and started stroking her hair, which was still damp from the shower. "You have such beautiful hair," she said. "I love your hair." Suyeon found herself remembering Doyeon's words - "a matched set . . . both with bangs" - and thinking that perhaps Doyeon was right about the saw Sei felt about her.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Sei scowled in annoyance. "Who could that be?" She got up and opened door a bit. Through the crack, Suyeon could see Lucy outside.

"Hey, um, what's up?" Sei asked.

"I'm here to help do Suyeon's makeover!" Lucy chirped.

"No you're not," Sei told her.

Lucy looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Sei leaned against the doorframe, blocking Lucy's view into the room. "The bet I won was that I would get to give Suyeon a makeover, not I would get to give Suyeon a makeover with someone else."

"But -" Lucy began.

"No buts," Sei responded. "I get to spend time alone with you all the time. I never get to spend time alone with Suyeon. If you want to give Suyeon a makeover, then you go beat her at basketball. Tonight she's mine."

And with that, Sei closed the door and crossed back over to sit by Suyeon again. As Sei started playing with her hair again, Suyeon pondered what she had just seen. Not only had Sei said no to Lucy, which was something the other members doubted she was capable of, she even shut Lucy down when Lucy tried to use aegyo on her, which is something that all the members had problems with. Yes, this was shaping up to be a very interesting evening.


	7. Chapter 7

"I'm going to start with braiding your hair - I'm thinking Dutch braids."

Sei scooted up to the head of the bed and motioned for Suyeon to sit between her legs. Suyeon scooted up and felt the muscles in Sei's thighs as she closed her legs around her. Sei grabbed a comb from her bedside table and started combing through Suyeon's hair. Once it was combed out straight, she parted it down the center and began braiding one half, turning the braid under and pulling in extra strands of hair as she went. As she worked, she kept up a steady stream of chatter: What she'd been thinking about recently, her hopes for the band, other groups she enjoyed, and so forth. Suyeon joined in, and by the time Sei had finished braiding half of her hair felt a kinship with the younger girl that she had never felt before. 

Sei placed a clip at the nape of Suyeon's neck to hold the first braid in place, then started braiding the other half of her hair. Suyeon felt little shivers originating from her scalp wherever Sei touched her and running down her spine. By the time Sei had finished braiding this half of Suyeon's hair and started combining the two braids into a single braid down her back, Suyeon was relaxed and on the verge of falling asleep. She hadn't felt this free of stress in months - having Sei play with her hair had just drained all her stress away. She was a little sad when Sei put an elastic down the bottom of her braid and declared it "Done!"

Sei handed Suyeon a mirror so she could see her hair. She had to admit, Sei had really done a good job - even stylist-nim would have had trouble doing better. While she was checking out her hair, she used the mirror to sneak a look at Sei. She looked as happy as Suyeon felt in that moment - apparently whatever was happening with them tonight, they were both enjoying.

"OK. Scoot up so I can do your makeup!"

Suyeon scooted up, suddenly feeling cold in all the places she was no longer touching Sei. She noticed that Sei shivered as she climbed down off the bed and went to get her makeup case. Sei opened the case, revealing a collection of beauty products that would do a professional proud. This was obviously a girl who liked makeup.

Sei stood in front of Suyeon, cupping her chin in her hand as she studied Suyeon's face.

"Your skin in nice and clear, so that makes things easier. What makeup removal and facial cleanser do you use?" When Suyeon told her, Sei declared that these products were "good, but not really good enough, you know?" and said that next time they had a day off she'd take Suyeon shopping for some proper facial care products.

She started with a skin toner, then a concealer and foundation. Then on to the eyes. Sei declared that pink eyeshadow, besides being on-trend right now, would be extremely flattering to Suyeon.

"I don't know," Suyeon protested. "I've never worn pink eyeshadow before."

"That's the whole point," Sei responded. "This is your chance to try things you've never tried before, applied by someone who knows how and who wants you to look good. Now trust me and close your eyes."

The next few minutes were a flurry of application, blending, smudging, wiping off, reapplying - by the time Sei was done, Suyeon had absolutely no idea how many products had been applied to her eyes. She started to open her eyes and see how it looked, but Sei told her "Nope, eyes closed. You've got to keep your eyes closed until I finish the makeup so it'll be a surprise."

Next Sei applied eyelashes, a combination of strips and individual lashes, followed by a little bit of blush on her cheeks.

"Now pucker up so I can do your lips."

Suyeon complied and waited, wondering if she could guess by feel what kind of lip product Sei was using on her. The wait had lasted long enough that she was about to risk opening her eyelids a slit and trying to peek out, when suddenly she felt it - Sei's mouth pressed against hers. The sheer surprise of it kept her frozen in place, then she scooted back on the bed and opened her eyes. Sei looked shocked.

"I'm sorry," Sei said, "I just... you looked so... and I wanted to... so I did... and..."

Suyeon reached out and took Sei's hand. "It's okay. I liked it - I was just surprised is all." As the two girls stared at each other for a long moment, Suyeon's mind was a whirlwind of conflicting emotion. This was what she had wanted for months, but she knew what she and Sei had done (were about to do?) was wrong - but it felt so good! - what about Lucy? - and hell with Lucy, Sei had kissed her - and the dormitory doors don't lock, anyone could walk in - So what if they did? She wasn't ashamed to be with Sei - well, she kind of was, given the circumstances, but maybe Sei was going to break up with Lucy anyway, in which case what was the harm in getting a jump start on things - or maybe it was just a kiss? Was it just a kiss? She looked deep into Sei's eyes for a clue, but didn't see anything except the beautiful eyes of the girl she'd wanted since she first saw her. What was she supposed to do? All her options seemed wrong - or maybe they all seemed right - and...

"I really liked that," Suyeon said quietly, "and I'd like to do that some more, if you want to."

Now it was Sei's turn to be nervous. She looked to Suyeon like this wasn't quite the outcome she was expecting, and now she wasn't sure what to do. Realizing she was still holding Sei's hand, Suyeon pulled her down onto the bed next to her, their faces inches apart.

"I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable doing," Suyeon said, but I've wanted to kiss you since before our debut, and I'd like to do it again."

Sei gulped nervously. "Doyeon was right - you do have a crush on me."

Suyeon nodded slowly. "Something like that."

"I didn't know if it was true," Sei continued, "but I realized I wanted it to be true. So I came up with this whole makeover idea to see what happened, and then that happened, and it was everything I'd wanted, but I can't do any more right now. I don't want to have to sneak to be with you. I don't want to have to worry about our members seeing us together. I've got to break up with Lucy - just give me a day or two, OK?"

Suyeon smiled and nodded. "I like the sounds of that." She reached around pulled Sei to her, giving her a hug and then a kiss on the forehead. "So... do you want to finish the makeover?"

"Oh, definitely," Sei said, nodding enthusiastically. "I'll just have to be careful when I'm around your lips."

They both laughed at this, probably loud enough to be heard out in the common room.


	8. Chapter 8

Lucy turned away from Sei's door, her eyes stinging where she was not going to cry. She was NOT going to cry. She was NOT - Damn it! She slid down the wall, coming to a rest sitting with her arms wrapped around her legs and tears running down her face. She had thought it was funny when Sei had told her she had a crush on Suyeon - mainly because she'd always spoken of it in the past tense, so Lucy figured it was safely in the past. Lucy had even teased her about it, and apparently all she was doing was rekindling this old crush - if it had ever been gone at all! - and driving Sei to Suyeon.

Just then a shadow passed over Lucy's face and the next thing she realized, Lua was kneeling in front of her.

"Hey! Lucy! What's going on? You've been . . . crying? What's wrong? Is there something I can do to help?"

Lucy sniffled, blinked away the last of the tears, and looked up at Lua. Lua was always the happiest member, always ready to cheer anyone up if they were feeling down, so of course Lua would be the one to find her like this. Lucy thought about her situation, then she remembered Rina and Elly telling her about finding Lua and Suyeon making out on the stairs but apparently wanting to keep their relationship secret. Well, Lucy understood why now: Suyeon planned to be dating Sei while keeping Lua as a secret side chick. "I can put a stop to that," Lucy thought to herself. "I can break up Lua and Suyeon, then win Sei back from her, and she'll be left all alone and she'll see that she shouldn't mess with me."

"Lucy?" Lua was saying. "Talk to me. What's wrong?"

Lucy turned to her. "I'm just frustrated. I had thought Sei and I were going to spend the evening together, but instead she's doing that makeover on Suyeon and doesn't even want me in the room."

Lua reached out and hugged Lucy. "It'll be okay. It's just one evening. What about me? I can't even go into my own room because of Suyeon's makeover. Why don't we hang out together - the 'Displaced Because of Suyeon's Makeover' Club!"

Lucy laughed a little at this idea - Lua was so sweet. Suddenly, she had an idea. "I know!" she said. "Let's go to my room and I'll do a makeover on you!"

Lua shrugged. "Sure - if it'll make you happy, I'll be your Barbie doll."

As they got up and walked hand-in-hand to the room Lucy shared with Rina. The room was empty, of course - Rina was off with Elly - so she and Lua would have it all to themselves.

"You sit down on the bed," Lucy said. "I've got to go get a spray bottle of water."

When Lucy got back, Lua was sitting on the bed waiting for her. "What did you have in mind for a makeover?" Lua asked.

"I was thinking I'd do your hair in ringlets, then do your makeup, then dress you up in my Lolita dress." Lucy put the spray bottle of water on her bedside table and went to get her hair supplies.

Lua raised her eyebrows. "You've got a Lolita dress?"

Lucy spun around to face her. "Yes. You don't need to sound that surprised."

"It's just," Lua began, searching for the right words, "you're the biggest tomboy of all our members. If I had to guess who among us would own a Lolita dress, I wouldn't have guessed you."

Lucy put her hands on her hips. "So... what - just because I like sports, I can't like pretty things?"

"That's not what I meant. I just-" Lua shook her head. "Let's just forget I said anything. I'm sorry."

Lucy went over and hugged Lua. "No," she said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." Without ending the hug, Lucy climbed into Lua's lap, sitting straddling her and facing toward her. She brushed the other girl's violet hair away from her face and looked deeply into her eyes. "You're so sweet. I hope that if Sei and I break up, I can find someone as sweet as you."

A look of confusion flashed over Lua's face. "Why would you and Sei ever break up? You two are perfect for each other. You've been inseparable for as long as I've known you."

Lucy leaned forward and hugged Lua again. "But what if someone split us up? Doyeon said that one of our members has a crush on Sei. What if she - whoever she is - is able to come between us?"

Lua returned Lucy's hug. "If Sei's stupid enough to let someone else steal her from you, then she doesn't deserve you."

Lucy looked down into Lua's face. "Sei's not stupid. She's just prone to being flattered if someone pays attention to her and it makes her make poor decisions."'

"Well," Lua said, "I don't think anything like that's going to happen. Do you still want to do the makeover?"

"Oh yes!" Lucy hopped up from Lua's lap. Grabbing a comb and a pack of long foam curlers from her bag, Lucy got started on Lua's hair. She used the comb to separate sections of hair, wrapped each section in a spiral around a curler, and pinned it into place. Once all of Lua's hair had been wrapped, she sprayed it all down with water, then got her hair dryer and dried it.

As Lucy was doing Lua's makeup, they talked some more.

"Are you really worried about Sei leaving you?" Lua asked.

"I don't know," Lucy said. "This morning I would have said no, but if you had heard the way she shut me out of her room this evening, it was like she was shutting me out of her entire life."

"Well," Lua said, "I don't think she'd do that. Tell you what: Let's go ahead and get me dressed and take some pictures, then we can both go to bed early and things will be better in the morning."

Lucy nodded. "Okay. . . but how are you going to go to bed - you're shut out of your room!"

"I'll sleep on the couch," Lua said with a shrug, "or if someone else is there, I'll go sleep in Suyeon's bed. I'll figure something out. Trust me: Things are going to look 1000% better in the morning. Now, let's see that fancy dress!"


	9. Chapter 9

"Better?"

Lua woke up to the impact of a pillow being thrown at her head and the sound of Lucy screaming hysterically.

"Wha?" Even under such extreme conditions, Lua wasn't someone who'd wake up quickly.

"Go look in your room and tell me how that's supposed to be better!"

As Lucy stormed off, Lua sat up. "Better go look and see what caused the storm," she thought.

Lau got out of Suyeon's bed and stumbled groggily through the common area. She noticed a crowd of members around the door to her room, but they parted as if by magic to let her in. She stopped in the doorway to see what had Lua so upset. It didn't take long to find: Sei and Suyeon were asleep in Sei's bed. Suyeon had her arm around the younger girl, and Sei had her head resting on Suyeon's shoulder.

Taking a step toward the bed, unwilling to believe what she was seeing, Lua called Sei's name several times to wake her up, eventually being rewarded with a sleepy "What?"

"Sei," Lua said, putting force behind her voice to try to break through Sei's sleepiness, "you need to wake up. Do you know where your girlfriend is?"

Without opening her eyes, Sei nodded. "Mmm-hmm. She's right here." She put her hand on Suyeon's stomach and settled back to sleep.

"Sei," Lau hissed, "that's not your girlfriend. Open your eyes and see what you've done!"

Startled awake, Sei looked at Suyeon lying next to her, then rolled over and saw Lua staring down at her, with the rest of her members clustered behind her.

"Are all of our members in here watching me sleep?" Sei asked.

"Not all of them," Lua said. "Lucy apparently took one look at you and ran off to her room to cry. After stopping on the way to throw a pillow at my head."

Sei's face shifted from confused to serious. "Oh no. I didn't want her to find out like this." She jumped out of bed, realized she was still wearing yesterday evening's clothes, realized there was no way she was getting changed with all her members in the room, and pushed past Lua to run to Lucy's room.

Lua looked down at Suyeon. She had never seen her leader look like this before - apparently the stylists needed to be taking tips from Sei. Suyeon's hair was in a pair of braids running toward the back of her head. Even after having been slept on, her makeup was obviously top notch. And what was she wearing? That can't be. . . It is! Suyeon was wearing Sei's black outfit from the "La La La" video: A black top with faux fur sleeves and short black patent leather skirt with a zipper on the side. But Sei never wore the outfit like this. Suyeon's curves took an outfit which on Sei had been hot and pushed it over the line to positively scandalous.

"Suyeon," Lua called out. "Wake up!" Lua looked around at the members clustered behind her. Was she getting stuck with waking everybody up because it was her room, or just because no one else wanted to job? Either way, it had to be done.

"Wake up Suyeon!" 

Suyeon's eyes popped open and she sat up in the bed. Looking around, it took her only a moment to figure out where she was and what must have happened. Looking at Lua and all the members staring at her, she swallowed nervously. "How bad is it?" she asked.

"Bad," Lua answered. "Apparently Lucy walked in on you and Sei asleep here." Lua shook her head. "What were you thinking, Suyeon? What the hell were you thinking?"

"What was I thinking?" Suyeon face took on an incredulous expression as she got out of the bed, face to face with Lua. "What was I thinking? None of this would be happening if Lucy hadn't barged into Sei's room uninvited and now all of a sudden everything's my fault?"

"Yes," Lua responded, meeting Suyeon's glare with one of her own. "You're her unnie. You should have stopped her."

"I should have stopped her? I should have stopped her? I should have?" Suyeon's voice rose in a crescendo of disbelief. She turned and took a couple of steps away from Lua before whirling back to face her again. "Where is it my job to safeguard Lucy's love life? Because I don't remember ever hearing that before."

"You should have stayed away from Sei for the good of the group," Lua retorted.

"For the good of the group! That's good, coming from you: Where was the good of the group when you were asking me to help you split up Rina and Elly?" In the crowd of members, Suyeon could see Rina and Elly start to glare at Lua.

"It makes sense now," Elly said, "Doyeon said that Suyeon made up the email from Manager-nim about playing ships with random people."

"Doyeon says a lot of things," Suyeon said, picking out the taller girl in the back of the crowd. "She also said that Sei had a thing for me and that Lucy understood and would get out of the way after a token resistance."

Doyeon put up her hands as if to fend off an attack. "Hey, how was I supposed to know I was right about Sei?"

"Yes," Suyeon said, "but you were wrong about Lucy, and you were wrong about the email - I've got it on my phone for anyone who wants to see it."

Elly turned on Doyeon. "Why would you even do something like that?"

Doyeon took a step back. "I was just tired of seeing Suyeon moping around over Sei. I figured if I could only get her to take action, she'd get shot down, cry for a couple of days, and then everything would be over. Drama comes to an end, but Suyeon could have moped around forever."

Elly took a step forward. "And what gives you the right to mess with people's hearts like that?"

Suyeon rushed forward and got between Elly and Doyeon. "OK everyone. Let's take this down a notch. Everyone go back to your room, try to calm down. Once you and your roommate are cool with each other, come on out to the common room so that we can try to get everyone cool with each other - at least cool enough to work with one another and to appear in public together tomorrow."

With a generalized sound of grumbling, everyone went back to their rooms: Yoojung and Doyeon, who were sure to be the first ones out; Suyeon and Elly; Rina and Lucy; and Lua and Sei, who Rina had sent back to her room with a promise that Lua would explain everything to her.


	10. Chapter 10

Doyeon made it back to her room to find that Yoojung was already there. Already there and furious. Doyeon couldn't remember ever seeing Yoojung this angry - and certainly never this angry with her.

"We are through!" Yoojung snapped at her. "I could understand your plan with Suyeon and Sei - I thought it was a stupid plan, but at least it was a plan. But what possible reason could you have for telling people that Suyeon was faking the email from manager-nim? That doesn't even make sense! It was just cruel. I would never date someone that cruel. We are finished!" Yoojung stood staring defiantly at Doyeon, her chest heaving with her ragged breaths.

"Awww, Udon-"

Yoojung cut her off. "Don't you dare 'Awww, Udon" me! You don't get to use that nickname anymore."

Doyeon sighed and rolled her eyes. "OK, Yoojung-unnie. I just thought it was a joke, just a little something to stir people up. I didn't know people would believe me! It's just, things were getting boring-"

"Boring? Things going well does not equal boring! You're about to find out what boring is! Now let's go out and wait for the other members. And don't you even talk to me!"

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

As Suyeon had predicted, Dojeon and Yoojung were the first members back to the common area, but apparently not for the reason she'd expected. No, she certainly hadn't expected them to come stalking out and sit on opposite ends of the couch, with Doyeon desperately trying to get Yoojung's attention and Yoojung steadfastly ignoring. Just when it seemed this day couldn't get any stranger, it did.

Shaking her head, Suyeon turned her attention from the open door back to Elly. "I don't know how many times I have to keep telling you: I'm sorry I told Lua I'd try to split you and Rina up. She just looked so forlorn, I had to do something to try to lift her spirits, plus I was able to use it to get her to quit smoking."

Elly flopped down in her chair, stretched her legs out, and glared up at Suyeon. "And what, exactly, did you tell her you were going to do to split us up?"

"I didn't exactly tell her anything. I told her I had some ideas and to stay out of my way so I could work on it. I figured if she thought I was working on it, she'd leave you two alone and eventually she'd transfer her attention to the next shiny new girl that came along."

Elly closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, apparently trying to calm herself down. "You're lucky I've known you for so long, because otherwise I never would have believed that. Really, I mean, that is the most ridiculous story I've ever heard, so it's got to be true, because if you were lying to me, you'd come up with something more plausible."

Suyeon relaxed slightly. "So I'm forgiven?"

Elly shook her head. "Not exactly forgiven, but I'm not actively mad at you anymore. Besides, you still have to face Rina and I've got to figure out what to do about Doyeon."

Suyeon motioned toward the common room with her head. "I think Yoojung has already taken care of that for you."

Elly came over to stand by Suyeon and look out the door. Seeing the state of affairs between Yoojung and Doyeon, she whistled appreciatively. "Look's like someone's not getting any anytime soon!"

Suyeon laughed. "I know, right?"

Elly looked speculatively at the couple in the common room. "You think we could fix Lua up with Yoojung?"

Suyeon looked dubious. "Right... I get Lua to quit smoking and you want to hook her up with the biggest stoner in the band."

Elly glanced briefly at her roommate, then went back to looking out the door. "You've really got to get over your hangup about that. As long as it doesn't affect our performance, it's not big deal." Elly looked back at Suyeon, her eyes narrowing speculatively. "You've never been stoned, have you?"

Suyeon shook her head. "No, but I don't see why that-"

"Oh, it matters." Elly said. "It totally matters. I bet after a couple of good bong hits you'd change your tune."

Suyeon shook her head more vigorously. "No, I don't think so. Anyway, are we cool enough with each other to head out to the common room for round two of this battle?"

Without saying a word, Elly walked out of their room and sat down on the couch next to Yoojung. Suyeon took her usual place in the battered brown recliner they'd reclaimed from being discarded by another group that was moving up to better housing.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Lucy and Rina were in agreement that Suyeon was the problem here. "She tried to split both of us up from our girlfriends," Lucy said.

"And she might have actually succeeded in your case," Rina added.

Lucy was on the verge of bursting into tears again, but she pushed them down and put up a wall of anger to hold them down. "What am I gonna do about that?" she asked helplessly.

Rina thought deeply, calling up all the wisdom that came from being 11 months older. "It all depends on Sei. You can't trust her after this - you'll have to watch her all the time - but if she wants you to take her back, that's still an option."

Lucy nodded. "And how will I know if she wants me to take her back?"

"That's easy," Rina told her. "We need to hurry and get back to the common room while she and Lua are still in their room. Then you watch and see where Sei sits. If she sits by you, then she wants to try to patch things up, and if she sits by Suyeon, then you'll know she's gone."

"And either way," Lucy added, "I'm calling for a vote for a new leader."

Rina looked surprised, honestly never having considered this option. "Who would you want instead?"

Lucy smile deviously. "I think Elly would make a great leader."

 

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Sei stared at Lua in disbelief as her roommate finished her recounting of what had happened while Sei was trying to console Lucy. "So basically," she said, "while I was over trying to calm Lucy down, everyone lost their mind and everything went to hell."

Lua nodded. "Pretty much. The worst part is, I think more members are pissed off at Suyeon, who they think was stirring up trouble, than at Doyeon, who actually was stirring up trouble."

"The whole thing is a mess," Sei agreed.

"So, what are you going to do about your personal situation? Have you decided?"

Sei blushed. "I decided last night. I want to be with Suyeon. I told Lucy that just now, and I'll tell her again if she doesn't believe me."

Lua seemed stunned by this news. "So you're really dumping Lucy for Suyeon?"

Sei paused for a moment. "I'd never considered it in exactly those words, but, yes, I guess that's exactly what I'm doing."

Lua pondered this briefly. "So you wouldn't be upset if I snaked on Lucy?"

Sei gestured as if she was handing Lua something. "Be my guest! Maybe it'll help her get over me." ("And," she thought to herself, "maybe it'll help you get over Rina.")

Lua nodded thoughtfully. "Well," she said, "I guess we'd better head out to the common room."

When they walked out into the common room, they saw that everyone else was already there. Suyeon was sitting in her hideous brown recliner, Elly and Rina were squeezed together on the couch between Yoojung and Doyeon, and Lucy was sitting in her pink beanbag. Sei climbed up on the arm of the brown recliner, resting her legs in Suyeon's lap. Lua flopped down into the beanbag next to Lucy - it was a tight fit, but neither of them seemed to mind.

"Well," Suyeon said, "since we're all here, let's get started. Who wants to go first?"


	11. Chapter 11

After a silence that seemed to stretch out, Lucy finally said "Well, since no one else seems to want to, I guess I'll go first: I want us to vote on a new leader for the group."

The response couldn't have been more dramatic if she'd walked across the room and slapped Suyeon. All the members started talking at once, some calling for an immediate vote, others for no vote, others for a vote but only after discussion. When the hubbub had died down somewhat, Lucy started speaking again, and soon everyone had fallen silent to hear what she had to say.

"I'm not saying the Suyeon hasn't done a good job as our leader, and I know some of you think she should automatically be the leader because she's the oldest unnie. But given what's happened over the last few days, I don't know that I trust her to always use her leadership position strictly for the good of the group, and I'm there are some of you who feel the same way. I don't think those feelings should be ignored, and that's why I think we ought to have a vote - so that even if Suyeon is elected to stay our leader, she'll know that some of the members are unhappy with her-"

"Like I don't know that already," Suyeon mumbled.

Lucy glared at Suyeon, then went on. "SOME of the members are unhappy with her. Maybe even most - that's why we need to hold a vote."

"I think we need to hold a vote too," Sei said, glaring at Lucy, "so that some people can see that most of the members still trust Suyeon."

"Or maybe they don't," Rinna put in.

Sei turned her attention to Rinna. "Oh please. You know as well as I do that Lucy is calling for this vote for strictly personal reasons, so don't bother pretending she's acting strictly for the good of the group. If you want to be mad at somebody, be mad at me - I'm the one who broke up with Lucy, not Suyeon."

"No, but without her you'd have had no reason to break up with Lucy. Anyway, don't worry, I'm quite capable of being angry with both of you." Rinna flopped back on the couch and folded her arms.

"Well I think," Doyeon said, but then she was cut off by the sound of the doorbell. Instantly everyone fell silent - had one of the neighbors heard them yelling and called manager-nim? Were they all about to get in trouble? Doyeon got up and went to answer the door. Everyone strained their ears to hear what was going on at the apartment's door, and they all breathed a sigh of relief when Doyeon came back by herself, carrying a package. "It's for you," she said, tossing the package into Yoojung's lap.

Everyone turned to Yoojung, their quarrels momentarily forgotten as they curiously looked to see what was in the mysterious package.

Yoojung, realizing everyone was looked at her, rolled her eyes. "You're all going to stare at me until I open it, aren't you?" She took the wrapping off the package, revealing a book. "See?" she said, holding it up. "It's a book."

As she read the title, Suyeon's eyes got huge. "That's not just 'a book', that's _Kim Ji Young Born 1982_!"

"Huh?" Lucy and Lua had apparently never heard of this book. Elly looked over at them and explained.

"It's a novel about sexism in Korea. Word got out that Irene from Red Velvet was reading it and fans started burning their Irene merchandise." She turned on Yoojung. "Are you trying to cause trouble? What are you thinking, ordering this book? You know that the bookshop employee is going to talk to their friends about the idol that ordered a copy of the notorious book. Are you trying to drive our fans away?"

"Do we really want fans who'd be scared away because one of us read a book?" Yoojung retorted. "We could have the key to a better world."

Elly's eye narrowed. "Are you a feminist?"

Yoojung nodded, "Yes, and why shouldn't I be? Aren't you tired of the boy bands getting more freedom, more promotions, and probably more money than us? Don't you wish we were going out on a world tour?"

"Yes," Elly said, "but I just don't think Korea's ready-"

Yoojung cut her off. "Korea will never be ready unless someone pushes them. I mean, do you think it's okay that they're cool with women singing and dancing but as soon as we start thinking and talking they're like 'Oh hell no!'?"

Elly was shaking her head, trying to formulate an answer to this when Lucy broke in. "Well, as fascinating as all this is," she said, "there's still the matter of voting for our leader." She grabbed the wrapping paper from Yoojung's book, tore off 8 little scraps, and handed them out to the members, then grabbed a hat off one of the side tables and threw it out in the middle of the floor. "Write your selection for leader, then put it in the hat," she said.

"Who's going to count the votes?" Doyeon asked.

Lucy looked around at all the members. "I think it should be Lua," she said. "She's someone who's not going to be elected and who I think can be trusted to be impartial and honest. Any objections?" There was a general shaking of heads, so Lucy flopped back down next to Lua, scrounged up a pencil, and begin writing.

Within just a few minutes all the members had dropped their votes in the hat. Lua sat in the middle of the floor with the hat in her lap and silently sorted the votes into piles. When all was done she asked "Should I announce the vote totals or just the winner?"

"I think you should announce all the votes," Lucy said, looking pointedly at Sei, "I think enough damage has been done by secrets today."

"Sounds good to me," Sei said, glaring back at Lucy.

Lua reshuffled the scraps of paper. "OK then, unless someone objects?" She paused, but the tense silence indicated no one objected. "All right. The totals are 2 votes for Yoojung, 2 votes for Elly, and 4 votes for Suyeon. Suyeon remains the leader."

Lucy looked up, stunned. She knew she and Rinna had voted for Elly. She could guess that Suyeon and Sei had voted for Suyeon. That left two our of four members who had voted for Suyeon, but she couldn't figure out who it had been. Giving up the effort, she slumped down next to Lua, shaking her head. Lua put her arm around Lucy's shoulders and Lucy leaned into her, resting her head on Lua's shoulder.

Suyeon looked around at all the members. "I'd like to say something to the members who voted against me," she said, "It's obvious who one of you is, and I've got some ideas as to the others and why you voted the way you did, but I'd love to hear it from you, so I can try to be a better leader. If you're not comfortable talking to me about it, you can write your complaint down and slip it under my door."

Lucy jumped up, her hands balled up into fists, tears glistening in her eyes. "Damn it, Suyeon!" she yelled. "I'm trying to be angry with you, but you're being so nice and trying so hard to do the right thing that you're making it hard for me to not trust you!" And with that, she ran off to her room, attempting to leave the common area before she totally lost her composure.

Everyone sat silently for a moment, stunned by Lucy's outburst. When it became obvious that no one else was going to, Lua said "I'll go to talk to her, see if I can calm her down," as she climbed out of the bean bag and went after Lucy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kim Ji Young Born 1982 is a real book; it hasn't been translated into English (yet?), but if you read Korean, it's available from Amazon. The controversy with Red Velvet's Irene actually happened.


	12. Chapter 12

After Lucy and Lua left, the meeting came to an end of its own volition. Elly took Rina's hand and the two of them left the apartment. Yoojung opened her book and started reading. Doyeon tried unsuccessfully to get Yoojung's attention, then put her shoes on and left the apartment. Suyeon pulled Sei off the arm of the chair and into her lap. Putting her hand on Sei's abs, she leaned over as if she was going to whisper in her ear, then started nibbling on her earlobe. Sei giggled. Yoojung looked at them, then took her book into her room and shut the door.

"Well," Suyeon said glumly. "Looks like we've got the living room all to ourselves."

Sei reached up and stroked the side of Suyeon's face. "Don't worry, sweetie. The members will get used to us soon."

Suyeon laid her head on Sei's shoulder. "I hope so." She wrapped her arms around Sei and rocked her back and forth. "I'm so happy with you."

Sei looked into Suyeon's eyes. "Really? Even with everything that's happening, you're happy to be with me?"

Suyeon leaned forward and kissed Sei on the nose. "Really. Even with everything, I'm happy to be with you. I've been dreaming of this for months."

Sei held her tightly. "That makes me so happy to hear."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Lucy had gone into her room and thrown herself down on the bed. After a couple of minutes, she heard the door to her room open. Looking over, she saw that Lua was coming in after her.

"Hey," Lucy said. "What's up?"

Lua shut the door behind her and sat down on the bed by Lucy. "I wanted to come check on you."

Lucy brushed her hair out of her face. "I'm OK. Just a little frustrated. Well, OK, more than a little."

Lua picked up a strand of hair that Lucy had missed and tucked it behind her ear. "Do you want some company?"

Lucy nodded. She sat up and rested her head on Lua's shoulder. "I'm so frustrated! It's like Suyeon gets everything! She gets Sei, she gets to be the leader - and nothing bad happens to her because of what she did! What's wrong with me?"

Lua put her arms around Lucy and started stroking her hair. "Nothing's wrong with you," she said. "You're awesome."

Lucy slumped against Lua. "Yeah right. If I'm so awesome, why did Sei break up with me?"

Lua held Lucy tighter. "Sei made a mistake. Or maybe she did the right thing for her. Maybe she'll be happier with Suyeon than she was with you. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you. It just means there's someone else out there who'll be even better for you than Sei was."

Lucy scoffed. "Yeah, right."

"Maybe you're right," Lua said. "If you were unloveable and there wasn't anyone who'd want to be with you, you'd be all alone when you were upset, instead of having someone's arms around you as they let you cry on their shoulder."

Lucy sat up straight and looked Lua in the eyes. "Do you mean...?"

Lua nodded. "I couldn't do anything before because you were with Sei and she's my friend, but now that you're not with her..." Lua leaned forward and kissed Lucy's mouth. Lucy was so stunned she didn't move at all; she just sat there, staring at Lua, trying to process what was going on.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Rina and Elly were walking in the park.

"You know," Rina said, "if you'd voted for yourself, you'd have tied Suyeon, we'd have had a second vote and you might have won."

Elly laughed. "Then it's a good thing I didn't vote for myself - I don't want to be leader."

Rina looked at her. "Really? I think you'd be a good leader. Much better than Suyeon."

"What's wrong with Suyeon?"

"She broke up Sei and Lucy, she told Lua she was going to try to break us up - do I really need to go on? Isn't that enough?"

Elly looked thoughtful. "From what I could tell, Sei was the one taking all the action - she chased after Suyeon, she dropped Lucy. I don't know why Suyeon's getting all the hate for that. As for us, I don't think she was really going to do any thing - I think she just told Lua that so that she'd leave us alone and soon enough she'd develop a crush on someone else."

Rina dropped Elly's hand. "I can't believe you're defending her!" Her eyes flashed.

Elly grabbed Rina's hand. "I just don't think it's fair that people are hating on Suyeon for things that other people did."

Rina snatched her hand away. "You're just saying that because she's an unnie and your roommate! What if she actually had tried to break us up?"

Elly put her hands in her pockets and looked calmly at Rina. "If she had tried, do you really think she could have? Is there something we need to talk about?"

Rina looked down and kicked at a stick on the ground. "It's not like that. I just -"

"Look," Elly broke in, "I'm with you because I want to be with you. Whether or not Suyeon or anyone else is okay with that has nothing to do with it. As far as I'm concerned, the only people who can split us up are me and you." She put her arm around Rina's shoulders and started leading her down toward the pond.

Rina shrugged Elly's arm off her shoulder, turned her back on her, and crossed her arms. "I feel like you're not taking my fears seriously."

Elly walked around to stand in front of Rina. "Suyeon knows we're all watching her - she won't try anything. But I'll be watching her anyway, just in case. Is that good enough?"

"I guess so. I guess it'll have to be."

"Don't worry," Elly said, wrapping her arms around Rina. "I'll be watching out for you, and you'll be watching out for me, and anyone who messes with us will regret it."

Rina smiled at her. "You bet."


	13. Chapter 13

Lucy leaned back. "What are you doing?"

Lua's eyes popped open. "I was kissing you. Apparently you want me to stop?"

Lucy's mouth quirked into a mischievous grin. "I didn't say that. I'm just trying to figure out what's happening here."

"Well..." Lua said, "I was hitting on you, then I saw an opportunity to kiss you, so I did. Then you leaned back so I wasn't kissing you anymore. And now we're talking."

"No, silly," Lucy said with an infectious giggle. "I meant big picture what's happening here. You really want to be with me?"

Lua took her hand. "Why is that so surprising to you?"

Lucy shrugged. "I don't know. I just... never considered you as someone I could be with."

Lua looked crestfallen. She stood up from the bed. "I guess I should be going then. See you around."

Lucy grabbed Lua around the waist and pulled her back onto the bed. "Not like that! Like, I always thought you were out of my league."

"Yeah right," Lua said, rubbing her head where she'd banged it on the headboard. "I do own a mirror, you know, and I'm not as big an airhead as I act for the fans."

Lucy wrapped her arms around Lua and held her tight. "You're prettier than you give yourself credit for," she said, looking into Lua's eyes, "and you're kind, and funny, and you're smarter than anyone else realizes." She shrugged. "I never felt like I could measure up."

Lua looked stunned. "Never felt like you could measure up? Girl, if you don't know that you're straight up beautiful, I'm going to have to find a way to convince you. Plus you're funny, and you're a great dancer, and... why are you crying?"

Lucy tried in vain to wipe away her tears. "Because all the things you're saying are things that I'd lie in my bunk and wish that someone would say to me. Sei never would - you'd think compliments cost a hundred billion won apiece as rarely as she handed them out. She was never mean, she just never seemed to notice how much saying - or not saying - one little thing could affect my mood. It's not easy being the maknae you know. I mean, we all have to be 'on' whenever we're out in public, regardless of how we really feel, but I always have to be that little bit extra, you know? And a lot of times I just don't feel it."

"Well," Lua said, as she grabbed a Kleenex from the nightstand and tried wiping away Lucy's tears, "you wouldn't have to worry about that with me. You'd probably get tired of me saying nice things about you."

Lucy laughed. "I don't think I could ever get tired of that. I-"

"Hey everybody! Come see this!" Doyeon's voice echoed throughout the apartment.

Lua looked at Lucy. "Do we want to go see what's got her so excited?"

"Everybody! Come on!"

Lucy looked back at Lua, her eyes sparkling. "I think we'd better before she shouts the whole place down."

They disentangled themselves, got up from the bed and went out into the common room.

"Over here!" Doyeon, Suyeon, Sei, and Yoojung were all gathered around the kitchen table. Doyeon was excitedly waving around a small, brightly colored, something.

"This'll have to do," Doyeon was saying excitedly. "I'll tell Rina and Elly when they get back."

As Doyeon had been talking, the front door had opened. "Tell us what?" Elly asked.

"Oh good, everyone's here," Doyeon squealed. "Look at this!" She held out a small purple plastic crystal.

"OK," Yoojung said, "now how about you tell us what it is."

"OK, OK, OK," Doyeon said, so ridiculously excited about this little whatsit that all the other members were confused. "So, I was out for a walk, and I was passing by the geek shop up the street-"

"Geek shop?" Sei asked, a puzzled look on her face.

"The place that sells manhwa, American comic books, video games, stuffed animals, and all sorts of other weird stuff. Anyway, I was passing by, and I realized I'd never been in there, so I decided to go in. There were some guys in there playing a game and they had all sorts of fancy dice with more than six sides, in all different shapes and colors. I asked if they had one with eight sides, and they said they did, and one of the guys said they could even use their 4-D printer to make one for me with custom symbols instead of numbers if I wanted, so I said that's what I wanted, and they programmed the machine, and about 5 minutes later I had this!" She triumphantly held out her hand to show off the little purple crystal.

"That's a neat story," Rina said, "but why should we all be excited that you got an eight-sided dice?"

"Because," Doyeon said, pointing at the die, "instead of numbers, this one has all our names on it. So we can use it to pick names to see who we're pretending to ship for the fans and it'll make kind of like a game out of it."

"I thought I just made up the email saying we had to do that," Suyeon said snarkily.

"I don't think you did," Doyeon said, hanging her head, "and I'm sorry I said you did." And, then ask quickly as it was gone, her overexciteable good mood returned. She shoved the die into Suyeon's hand. "Let's use it to pick our ships for tomorrow!"

"OK," Suyeon said. She handed the die to Lucy. "Lucy, why don't you roll it first to see who you'll be shipping with tomorrow."

Lucy took the die and looked at it, turning it over in her hands so she could see all their names written on it. "This should be fun," she said. "All right. Tomorrow the fans will be shipping me with" - she rolled the die, and they all leaned forward to see the result - "Suyeon?!"


	14. Chapter 14

They all stood around the table staring at the die. Tomorrow Lucy would have to pretend to be shipping with Suyeon. If there was a more awkward pairing in the group, none of them could think of it. Finally the silence got to be too for Lua - she picked up the die and started shaking it. She made a big production of shaking the die before rolling, chanting "Every time yeah? Every time yeah!" as if that was going to help her get a better roll.

"Elly!" Lua yelled after reading the die. "You're my baby tomorrow."

Elly threw up her hands in mock horror. "Oh no!"

After that, the ice had been broken and the Lucy/Suyeon pairing momentarily forgotten. The remaining members rolled the die, which ended up with Yoojung shipped with Sei and Doyeon shipped with Rina.

"Okay, now that that's done, everyone out of the kitchen," Yoojung said. "We've got a day off today and I want to make brownies."

"C'mon everyone!" Doyeon said. "The Olympics are on! Women's hockey!"

The rest of the group followed Doyeon into the other room and Yoojung got started baking.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Later that afternoon, the hockey game was over (Sweden won) and the members of Weki Meki had scattered to enjoy the rest of their day off. Suyeon was sitting in the her chair flipping idly through the channels, waiting for Sei to get out of the shower. She looked up at the clock. It wasn't time for dinner yet, but she was hungry. She headed to the kitchen to look for a snack. She saw the brownies Yoojung had baked earlier, sitting on a plate on the counter. Peeling back the plastic wrap, she grabbed a brownie and moved the one next to it over so that the missing browning wasn't so obvious. She took a bite of the brownie. It was delicious! Quite possibly the best brownie she'd ever had! Yoojung had always been a good baker, but this was better than anything she'd baked before. Suyeon finished the brownie and decided she wanted another one. She took one from the other side of the plate, sat down and ate it slowly.

When she finished, she decided one more brownie wouldn't be missed. She got up and headed back toward the counter. As she walked, she realized she felt kind of wobbly, sort of unsteady on her feet. Yes, she definitely needed another brownie - apparently her blood sugar was low. When she got back to the table, she discovered that she was carrying a brownie in each hand. She shrugged, figured she couldn't put them back now that she'd touched them, and took a bite of each.

"Suyeon?!" Sei was standing at the entrance to the kitchen, wearing her bathrobe, with a towel wrapped around her head. "How many brownies did you eat?"

Suyeon's head snapped up, her eyes wide. She stuffed one of the brownies into her mouth to free up a hand and then held up four fingers.

Sei came over, took the half brownie out of Suyeon's other hand, and pulled her to her feet. "Come on," she said. "Let's get you to your chair."

Suyeon couldn't understand why she felt so odd. The floor felt like it was warped and the walls seemed to be wavering in and out. She let Sei lead her to her chair, then sat down.

"You stay right here. I'll be right back."

Sei ran and looked in her room, then Suyeon and Elly's room, then Doyeon and Yoojung's room - everyone was apparently out of the apartment. Except... she hated to do this, but it was the only thing she could do. She crossed over to Lucy's door and knocked. When there was no answer after a while, she knocked again, louder. Finally Lucy opened the door. She saw that it was Sei and her face froze into an impassive mask.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I really need your help."

"What? And why should I help you?"

"Look," Sei said, straightening her towel from where it was about to fall off her head. "I know things aren't the best between us right now, but there's no one else here and I can't handle this by myself. Suyeon ate four of Yoojung's special brownies."

Lucy laughed. "That's hilarious! How fucked up is little miss soberer than you? Can we mess with her?"

Sei stepped back and crossed her arms. "No, that's what I'm trying to avoid. We've got to keep her in the apartment, keep her from getting busted. She's never been stoned before - she doesn't know how to manage it."

Lucy tried to look serious and almost succeeded. "Right. I've got Lua in here - she can help too."

Sei started forward as if she was about to hug Lucy, then thought better of it. "Thank you, Lucy."

"Just so we're clear," Lucy said, "I'm doing this for the group. I'm not doing it for Suyeon and I'm certainly not doing it for you."

"That's fine," Sei said. "Hate me as much as you need to right now, but we've got to keep Suyeon safe until she comes down."

As if on cue, there was a loud crash from the common room. Sei and Lucy rushed in to find Suyeon sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by the contents of Yoojung's art supply box.

"Oh hi!" Suyeon said when she saw her members. "I was looking for a pencil so I could write things down before I forget and I made a mess." She looked at Lucy. "Lucy! How'd you get so tall! I mean, you were tall before, but now you're super tall. You're like a giant! Will you be able to fit on stage with the rest of us? Will they have to build a special stage for giant Lucy?"

Rolling her eyes, Lucy knelt by Suyeon. "I've got this," she said, as she started picking up the scattered pencils and paints. "You go get dressed."

Lucy pressed a sketch pad and a pencil in Suyeon's hands as she checked the floor to make sure she had all of the art supplies. Suyeon immediately started writing, her usually neat handwriting a mess of wildly fluctuating letter sizes and wavering lines. Setting the art box on the table, Lucy sat down by Suyeon. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"Weird," Suyeon said, continuing to write even while she talked. "My brain's weird. I have to write down my thoughts or else they'll fly away and then I won't have any thoughts."

"I'm not surprised," Lucy said. "Usually two of us will split one of Yoojung's brownies. You ate enough to get the whole band high."

By this time Lua had joined them and Sei, dressed in a tracksuit and her hair still damp, had come back.

"We're going to have a long day, aren't we?" asked Lua.

Sei nodded. "Oh yes. A long, long day."

"I'm hungry!" Suyeon announced, putting down the pencil and pad. "We need chicken and beer!"

"I don't know about beer," Lua said, "but we've got to feed her something or else she'll try to go looking for food."

Lucy hopped up. "I know where Suyeon keeps the band credit card. I'll get it and we can order delivery." She dashed off into Suyeon and Elly's room. When she came back a few minutes later, Suyeon was explaining to Lua and Sei her new theory of chicken and beer.

"What they need to do," she was saying, "is feed the beer to the chickens. That way when you eat the chickens, you get the beer too, and you don't have to stop eating chickens to drink the beers."

"Why not put the chicken in the beer?" asked Sei, figuring that as long as Suyeon was sitting her talking nonsense, at least she wasn't trying to get out.

"Silly Sei!," Suyeon said, "You can't fit a chicken in a beer!" She managed to focus on Sei's face, then leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. She started singing a little song: "Silly Sei! Silly Sei! Oh how I love, my silly Sei!"

Suddenly uncomfortable with Suyeon showing her affection in front of Lucy, Sei jumped up and took the credit card from the maknae. "I'll go order some chicken and pop." Looking at Suyeon, she added "We can't have beer because we've got interviews and a fansign tomorrow."

"Oh yeah," Suyeon said, chuckling. "We have to make the fans think we're good girls and never get drunked."

"Ooh and order a pizza!" Lua added. "And some ramen!"

Making a mental note of these additions, Sei turned to Lucy. "Anything else?"

Lucy shook her head, and Sei took her phone into the kitchen to order the food.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

When the rest of the members came back to the apartment that evening, it was to find Suyeon asleep on the common room floor; Sei was stretched out next to Suyeon, using one of her thighs as a pillow, and Lua was curled up behind her. They were surrounded by the packaging from what had apparently been a veritable feast of delivery food. Lucy was sitting on the couch, watching the other three sleep and shaking her head.

"What happened?" Elly asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Lucy said, getting up heading for her room. "It's been an interesting day, and now I'm going to bed. See you all in the morning."


	15. Chapter 15

Suyeon woke up without hearing her alarm. Figuring this meant she had time left to grab a little extra sleep, she kept her eyes closed and tried to roll over. Only to discover she couldn't roll over because something heavy was weighing down her leg. She opened her eyes and looked down: Sei was lying across her legs, using her right thigh as a pillow. As well as she could without disturbing Sei, she propped herself up on her elbow and looked around. Lau was curled up in a little ball, pressed against the small of her back. And they all three were lying on the floor in the middle of the common room.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Yoojung said from the couch. "I was wondering if you'd wake up on your own or if I'd have to wake you up."

Suyeon looked around again, no less confused. "What happened? Why am I sleeping out here?"

"Oh," Yoojung said nonchalantly, "you had a big day yesterday and apparently couldn't make it back to your room before falling asleep. Apparently Sei and Lua were worn out from babysitting you so they went to sleep next to you - or in Sei's case, on you - under the theory that if you got up, you'd wake them up and they could keep you from getting into any trouble."

"Babysitting? Trouble? Big day?" Suyeon sat up, almost on the verge of panic. "You're not making any sense Yoojung! Can't you just explain to me what happened?"

Yoojung marked her page and closed her book before putting it on the coffee table. "After the drama of yesterday morning, I baked some herbally enhanced brownies. You with me so far?"

Suyeon nodded, a look of comprehension gradually dawning on her face.

"So, after I was gone, you apparently ate enough of my brownies to get eight ordinary people high. Fortunately for you, Lucy, Sei, and Lua were here to keep you out of trouble. They kept you from leaving the apartment. They kept you from using the phone. They kept you from going on Vlive. They used the band credit card to order food when you got hungry. You owe them all a huge favor. And you owe Rina and Elly for cleaning up the living room last night - apparently you're a really messy eater when you're stoned."

Suyeon buried her face in her hands. "Oh no! I'm so embarrassed. I really should resign as leader..."

Yoojung let out a short bark of laughter. "Resign? With the possible exception of Lucy, no one would let you! You were the only one of us who'd never fucked up, and when you finally did, you fucked up in such grand style that the members love you for it!"

Suyeon lifted her head from her hands, a puzzled look on her face. "They do?"

Yoojung nodded. "Of course they do! People like their leaders to be human. Not too human, mind you - you shouldn't make a regular practice of this - but human enough. So long as you handle the aftermath of yesterday properly, this could be the best thing that ever happened to you."

"Aftermath? If I can't even remember what I did yesterday, how do I handle the aftermath."

"Just be yourself," Yoojung said, "only maybe a little more easy-going. Keep on being helpful whenever one of the members fucks up. And stop hassling the members who choose to smoke - if you even try that, they'll throw this back in your face."

Suyeon nodded. "Thanks Yoojung."

"No problem." Yoojung picked up her book and headed for her bedroom. "But you'd better hurry and get dressed - the van will be here to take us to interviews in 20 minutes."

Stopping only to wake up Sei and Lua, Suyeon rushed to her room to get ready for the day's events.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

As they rode in the van to their third interview of the day (to be followed by an informal fansigning and a TV appearance), Suyeon tried again to talk to Lucy, who'd been quiet for most of the day. Ship-acting with Lucy hadn't been as awkward as she'd feared, as Lucy seemed to be over the most acute phase of her anger, but it was still hard trying to deal with someone who wouldn't talk to you. Since none of the "safe" topics she'd tried had been enough to draw Lucy out, Suyeon decided to try something a little more dangerous. She leaned closer to Lucy, who was looking out the window.

"So Lucy," Suyeon said, with an affected casualness that fooled nobody, "I'd been expecting you to be watching Sei today, but instead you seem to only have eyes for Lua. Is something going on there?"

Lucy's head whipped around, her face a mixture of defiance and surprise. "Not that it's any of your business, but yes! Or at least, it was starting to when Sei came banging on my door to get some help with yesterday's big event."

Nodding, Suyeon said "I haven't had a chance to thank you for that. It would have been so easy for you to turn me in, or to let me do something stupid and get caught. Thanks for not doing that."

Lucy snorted. "If I had turned you in, at least one of the other members would get in trouble. And if you'd gone and done something stupid, it would have hurt the whole band."

"Well," Suyeon said, trying to get some opening with Lucy, some chance to make things even a little bit better between them, "still, you didn't do any of those things. You helped me out, and I appreciate it." She quietly let out a small laugh. "I just wish I could remember more of it."

"There's not really much to remember," Lucy said. "You spent all afternoon alternating between talking nonsense and writing in a notebook, then you ate half a chicken and a bowl of ramen and I don't even know what all else, then you fell asleep."

Suyeon nodded. As little as this was, it was more than she'd known before. "I wonder what I was writing."

"Oh, the usual things," Lucy replied with a forced casualness. "Some bad poetry, some utter nonsense, your deepest secrets." And with a smile that didn't reach her eyes, Lucy turned back to looking out the window.


	16. Chapter 16

It had been a long day of promotions. Even after their last event - an appearance on a small regional TV show that required them to fake energy and excitement that none of them felt by that time - they still had an hour and a half in the van before getting home. Since there was a chance that fans would be gathered to watch them go into the dorm, they were still paired up according to the day's "fan ships." One by one they each fell asleep leaning against the day's assigned "girlfriend," cuddling up just as closely as if they'd been with their real girlfriend. The last ones to fall asleep were Suyeon and Lucy - neither one of them wanted to be the one to lean on the other, so they both tried to sleep sitting straight up. Finally neither one of them could keep their eyes open any longer and a hard right turn made Lucy fall over against the window and Suyeon fall over against Lucy. Neither of them woke up, but they each, feeling that they were snuggled up against something soft and warm, wrapped their arm around the other.

When they arrived back at the dorm, Lucy and Suyeon didn't wake up until Doyeon shook them awake. They disentangled from each other, blinked confusedly, then remembered where they were and what had happened. Fortunately there weren't any fans waiting outside the dorm, because none of the members had enough presence of mind to play at ships after the long day they'd had. They stumbled up to their apartment, went through the minimal portion of their bedtime routine that they absolutely couldn't live without, then tumbled into their beds and fell asleep. Before she drifted off, Lucy reached under her pillow and confirmed that the papers she'd stashed there were still there.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

The next morning they woke up a little later than usual, relieved that they had a lighter schedule than the day before. They had one practice session, then some of them had lessons, then that evening they had another TV appearance. Before the day's activities started, they all gathered around the kitchen table and rolled up the day's ships. This day it was to be Yoojung and Sei again, Rina and Lucy, Suyeon and Lua, and Elly and Doyeon. Lua looked at Lucy and shrugged - once again no one had been paired up with her actual girlfriend. In a way that made it easier, because if anyone had actually gotten shipped with her girlfriend, all the others would be extremely jealous, but at the same time it was more difficult, all day long making skinships and conversation with a girl who wasn't your girlfriend. If you didn't do it well enough, the fans wouldn't be fooled, but if you did it too well, you could end up facing a jealous girlfriend when you got home. Everyone's jealousy seemed to running high, as the recent round of relationship changes had reinforced to them just how fragile a ship could be.

After dance practice, Suyeon and Lucy found themselves the only ones back at the apartment. Suyeon was sitting on the couch listening to music when Lucy sat down beside her and started talking.

Once she had Suyeon's attention, Lucy asked "Do you think it's possible to have more than one girlfriend and love them both?"

Suyeon was rather surprised by this direction of conversation. "I... I don't know... I've never really thought about it."

"I think you have, though," Lucy said, smiling when she noticed that Suyeon keep looking at her mouth. "How do you think it would be if you had two girlfriends? Or how would it be if Sei had two girlfriends - or a girlfriend and a boyfriend?"

"I'd... really have to think about that," Suyeon stammered, distinctly uncomfortable with the path this conversation was taking. "W- why are you asking me this?"

Lucy rested her hand on Suyeon's thigh. "I was just thinking about how something like that would probably have to be a deep secret-" the subtle stress Lucy put on these last two words immediately called to mind when Lucy had used the same phrase on the bus yesterday, in reference to Suyeon's stoned scribblings. "And I wasn't really sure what to think, so I figured I should get some advice from my unnie." Lucy stood up and stretched, her shirt riding up to give Suyeon a good view of her narrow waist and tight abs. "But maybe I need to ask one of my other unnies-" she paused a second to let this sink in. "Or maybe you and I could discuss it some more tomorrow, once you've had a chance to think it over."

"Tomorrow sounds good," Suyeon said. She wasn't sure where Lucy was going with this, but she figured the fewer people involved in this conversation, the better.

"OK then. Be thinking unnie," Lucy said with a smile. "I've got a lot of questions."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

For the rest of the day, Suyeon found her thoughts returning to her conversation with Lucy. She'd be talking with one of the members and suddenly find herself wondering what it would be like to kiss them. At lunch she was talking with Sei and wondered how she would feel if one or the other (or both!) of them had another girlfriend, and not even a secret, just "Boom! I'm dating two girls!" That evening, as they made their TV appearance, answering the same questions they'd answered dozens of times before and competing against each other in absurd games, she found herself watching Sei and Yoojung, wondering what it would be like if Sei was dating Yoojung as well as her. She found herself looking at Lua, wondering what it would be like to be dating Lua and Sei at the same time. And always, always, she found Lucy watching her and smiling. That night as she lay down to sleep, her face still tingling from a deep pore cleaning mask, she found that she was no closer to answers to Lucy's questions than she'd been that morning, but that she couldn't stop thinking about the subject.


	17. Chapter 17

Sei was awakened in the middle of the night by the feeling of someone sneaking into her bed. Thinking it was Suyeon, she rolled over, wrapped her arms around her, said "Good night, baby," and fell asleep. But her eyes flew open when she heard the person say "Oops! Wrong bed!"

"Lucy? What the hell?"

"I thought I was getting into Lua's bed. She said I could climb in bed with her whenever I have a nightmare."

Lucy looked around. "Oh. I guess my eyes weren't adjusted to the dark. I see now." She started to climb out of the bed, but Sei stopped her.

"Wait," Sei said, holding on to Lucy's arm. "Before you go, I want to talk to you for a second."

Lucy rolled over and stared into Sei's eyes. "Sure. What's up? Something wrong?"

"I just. . . I was . . . " Sei was obviously having trouble finding words. Lucy waited, resisting her usual impulse to jump in and help when Sei had this problem. "I . . . How are you doing?"

"I told you. I just had a nightmare. I was being chased, and I'd try to run but my legs wouldn't work right-"

"No, not right this second," Sei interrupted before Lucy could get fully into recounting her dream. "I meant, how are you doing for the last couple of days, since we . . . that is, since I . . . you know . . ."

"Since you dumped me?" Lucy asked. Sei could only nod. Lucy looked up at the ceiling for a moment, as if composing her thoughts, then said "I'm doing okay. I've been doing some reading whenever I get spare time. Speaking of which, can I ask you a question? Something I read doesn't sound right, and I wanted to get an unnie's perspective."

Alarm bells started going off in Sei's head - probably because she was the youngest member, Lucy had always been opposed to the age-based stratification of Korean life. Sei had lost track of how many times she's had to listen to Lucy rant about how just because someone was older, it didn't mean they were wiser or smarter. And now all of a sudden Lucy was suddenly seeking an unnie's advice? Something seemed off, but the only thing Sei could think to do was to play along until she saw where Lucy was going with this. "Sure," she said, "you can always ask me anything."

"Well," Lucy began, "I was reading something yesterday, and there was a little section toward the end where it talked about the possibility of dating more than one person at the same time, and everyone knowing about it and being cool with it. The writer used Twilight as an example. They said that if Bella was smart, instead of choosing between Team Edward or Team Jacob, she would have been for Team Bella and she could have had both of them. Does that sound right to you?"

Sei hadn't know what to expect here, and this was certainly one of the lasts things she would have expected. "I don't know," she said. "I think it could happen, but it would depend a lot on the people involved. You'd have to have people who could communicate well and who wouldn't get jealous. I don't think Rina could do it, for example - she seems to get too jealous - but I could see Yoojung dating two or even three girls and everyone being okay with it. I don't know if I could do it."

Lucy nodded. "So you're saying it is something that's possible?"

Sei felt as if she was being backed into a corner here. "I said it might be possible, given the right people. But considering how many people split up over jealousy every day, it'd take some pretty special people."

"I wasn't sure," Lucy said. "I thought maybe the author was on something, because I'd never heard of anyone doing that, but between years spent in training and how busy they keep us now, there's a lot I've never seen. You hear rumors, like about Twice and their 'OT9', but on the other hand, you also hear rumors that Doyeon has a boyfriend, and we both know how likely that is."

Lucy and Sei shared a laugh about the ridiculousness of supposing that the gayest member of Weki Meki would ever develop a fondness for the opposite sex. For a moment Sei felt sad, wondering if she was sure she'd done the right thing. She enjoyed being with Suyeon - as much as they'd had time for over the last couple of days - but she'd miss laughing with Lucy like that.

"What was this that you were reading?" Sei asked, suddenly curious at where Lucy was getting these new ideas.

"Oh, just some random things someone wrote, kind of like a blog, but on paper."

"Oh," Sei said. "Like a zine!" At Lucy's puzzled look, she went on. "Back before Insta and Tumblr, back even before Livejournal, people would make these little magazines and write about whatever they were thinking about, what music they were listening to, TV, sports, movies - anything that was important to them - and they'd swap these little magazines with each other."

Lucy's eyes lit up. "I'd love to see something like that! I mean, I love Tumblr and Insta, but making your own magazine sounds so cool!"

"It was pretty cool," Sei said. "I never got to make a zine, but some of the unnies when I first started training were into zines, and sometimes they'd let me read them."

Lucy leaned forward and kissed Sei on the cheek. "Thank you. I'm feeling better after talking with you - not so confused, and not so scared of my nightmare. I think I'm going to try sleeping in my own bed rather than disturbing Lua."

Sei was glad it was dark so that Lucy couldn't see her blushing. "Well," she said, "if you end up being more scared than you thought, you can always come back here."

Lucy stood up. "I don't think I'll need to do that, but thank you. And thank you for your answer to my questions. You know, I bet if people could be Team Bella, most dramas would have a happy ending halfway through the first episode."

Sei laughed. "Yeah, I suppose they would. Now we'd both better get to sleep - we get to go to the Olympics tomorrow, and it wouldn't do to be falling asleep in the stands."

As Sei rolled over and pulled her blanket up, Lucy sneaked back to her room and climbed back into her bed. She had a mysterious smile on her face that didn't fade even after she fell asleep.


	18. Chapter 18

Excited about their trip to the Olympics the next day, the girls were all up before their alarms and had dressed and had breakfast before Manager-nim showed up with the van.

"Now rememember," Manager-nim said as she ushered them into the van, "this is a treat, but it's also a public appearance. Best behavior at all times. Willing to sign autographs or post for selfies with any fans who approach you. You know the drill."

They did indeed - thanks to hours of media and comportment training, they all knew exactly how to behave in any situation they were likely to find themselves in. But they let Manager-nim carry on with her litany of instructions because they knew it made her feel better.

Once they were all in the van, Manager-nim got behind the wheel and started the van for the 2 hour drive to the arena.

"I wish they could have gotten us tickets to women's hockey," Doyeon said.

"Get real," Rina said. "As far as management knows, we're all straight and would love nothing better than to see a bunch of big strong Korean lads fighting it out on the ice for national honor." They all had a good laugh at this.

In the back corner of the van, Sei was telling Suyeon about her visit from Lucy the night before. "She was all full of questions about polyamory," Sei said. "She said she'd gotten it from a zine she was reading."

Suyeon's face froze. "No, do you know what she's been reading? Whatever I wrote when I was stoned..." Suyeon told Sei about her conversation with Lucy on the subject of nonmonogamy, and Lucy's hint that these questions were based on Suyeon's stoned scribblings. "So apparently," Suyeon concluded, "when I get stoned I write about polyamory - and I try to explain it using Twilight?" She buried her face in her hands, mortified.

"It could be worse," Sei said. "You could be using Fifty Shades of Grey to explain BDSM..."

Suyeon lifted her head. "But Fifty Shades of Grey is great for teaching BDSM!" As Sei's jaw dropped, she went on hurriedly "Christian Grey is a perfect example of what not to do."

Relieved by the sudden change of direction that sentence had taken, Sei laughed heartily. When she stopped to try to catch her breath, she overheard Lucy asking Yoojung "Yoojung, I've been doing some reading, and I know you've read a lot more than I have about this, so I've got a question for you: Is monogamy automatically a feminist value?"

Yoojung didn't even have to stop and think. "Hell no! It's a leftover from caveman days: My stick! My rock! My cave! My woman!" Anyone who wasn't already listening to this conversation was drawn in by Yoojung's caveman impression. "Monogamy can be feminist, depending on how it's used and what it's used for, but it's not automatically feminist, no." Yoojung thought for a moment. "In fact, given the way that monogamy is usually applied - more to women than to men - I'd say nonmonogamy is more likely to be automaticaly feminist, provided it's not applied in an unbalanced way." And just like that, Yoojung was off and running - get her started on a topic like this and she could monologue for an hour, easily. Everyone was listening raptly, while also scanning their eyes around to see how the others were reacting to what Yoojung was saying, while - Suyeon couldn't help noticing - Lucy never stopped smiling.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

When they arrived at the hockey arena, they were brought in through an unmarked entrance in the back. Before being led to their seats, they were escorted to a room full of Team Korea merchandise.

"They want you all wearing the team gear, so you'll look better on camera," Manager-nim said, gesturing toward the shelves of hockey jerseys, sweatshirts, hoodies, and hats.

"We should all pick the same shirt," Suyeon said, "so we'll show up even better on camera, then each pick a different hat.

"Which shirt should we pick?" Rina asked, kind of overwhelmed at the idea that all eight girls were going to be able to agree on a single shirt from the wide select laid before them.

"It's simple," Doyeon said, checking her phone. "The team's wearing their home white jerseys today, so we should dress to match."

Surprisingly, everyone agreed - even Lucy, who tended to never like wearing white. "And remember," Suyeon said as they got dressed, "change where you're setting every 10 minutes of game time so we're not in the same position in all the pictures."

"Yes, Suyeon-Unnie," Elly said, rolling her eyes.

"I mean it!" Suyeon said, her eyes flashing. "Manager-nim's being more relaxed about ships today. If we don't blow it, maybe she'll totally get off our backs about it."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

It was not the best game the Korean's men's hockey team ever played. Truth be told, it was a disaster: The Finns crushed them 8 to nothing. But even a hockey game where your team loses is fun to watch and fun to cheer for. Plus Weki Meki wound up on the Jumbotron a couple of times - the last time, the sound person even managed to find the "Let's get crazy!" sample from "I Don't Like Your Girlfriend" to play while they were on-screen.

Interestingly, even though they made all the necessary seat changes, Lucy never sat by Sei or Suyeon. So as they headed out to the van, Suyeon came up behind her on one side, Sei on the other, and they grabbed her arms. Steering her into the back seat between them, Suyeon said "We need to talk."

Once they were out on the road, Suyeon waited until the others were engaged in other conversations before she turned to Lucy and said "I need the papers that I wrote the other day."

"What makes you think I have them?" Lucy asked, doing her best to look innocent.

"You pretty much told me you have them," Sei said from Lucy's other side. "'It's kind of like a blog, but written on paper, any by someone who was on something.'" If they hadn't been so serious, Sei's impression of Lucy would have been hilarious.

Lucy threw up her hands. "Fine, I've got them. You can have them when we get back to the dorm. Now, can I move and go sit by Lua?"

"Not yet," Suyeon said. "First I want to know what you're up to. You've been obsessed with polyamory the last couple of days. First you asked me about it, then last night you asked Sei, then in the van this morning you asked Yoojung. You've got something going on here, and we need to know what it is before you cause drama."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, cause you two are the experts at not causing drama. Anyway, I was just trying to understand something I read. If I can't ask my unnies, who can I ask? Manager-nim? I don't think so. Look, I'll give you the papers when we get back, but I swear I'm not trying to solve any problems. I'm the victim here!" And with that she scooted out from between Suyeon and Sei and went to sit by Lua. She wrapped Lua's arm around her and cuddled up to her.

Sei scooted over and leaned against Suyeon. "So..." she asked quietly, " do you believe her?"

Suyeon shook her head. "Not a bit. But at least we're getting the papers back. We'll have to wait and try to figure out what she's up to as she gets up to it."


	19. Chapter 19

After the girls got back to their dorm, Lucy gave Suyeon the papers, then cuddled up on the couch with Lua to watch figure skating. During one of the breaks in the action, Lua brushed Lucy's hair away from her face and asked "Is something wrong? Has Suyeon been bothering you?"

Lucy shook her head. "No. She's just being Suyeon, you know? Which reminds me of something I wanted to talk to you about: Are you still Suyeon's side chick?"

Lua looked surprised. "What do you mean 'still'? I never was!"

"I was going to say," Lucy continued, "that that's okay, as long as you still have time for me. As long as I come first."

"But... I'm not her side chick," Lua protested. "Never was! What made you think that I was?"

"Rina saw you," Lucy said. "She saw you on the stairs making out with Suyeon."

Lua thought back. "Oh, I know what she saw! I wasn't making out with Suyeon - I was just kissing her all over the face because I was so excited that she was going to try to break up Rina and Elly." A look of realization came over Lua's face. "I'd better to talk to her - get her to stop trying to break up Rina and Elly." She jumped up. "I'll be right back. Tell me what I miss."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Doyeon and Yoojung were sitting at the top of the stairs outside the apartment.

"C'mon," Doyeon was saying. "You can't stay mad at me forever!"

Yoojung's eyes flashed. "Can't I? Just watch me!"

"But... but..." Doyeon sputtered. "I already apologized for all the trouble I caused. Isn't that good enough?"

"You apologized to me," Yoojung said, "but not to our other members. Do you even understand what you did?"

Doyeon slumped and nodded sadly. "I ruined the best thing that ever happened to me."

Yoojung scowled at her. "As flattering as that is, I want you to stop thinking about us and think instead about what you did to our other members."

Doyeon thought for a long moment, then sighed. "I broke up Lucy and Sei. But I got Suyeon and Sei together, so that should cancel out, especially since Suyeon didn't actually manage to break up Rina and Elly."

"You also made all the members doubt Suyeon," Yoojung added. "The whole meeting and election thing was your fault, and if Suyeon had been voted out as leader, that would have been your fault too."

Doyeon sighed. "You're right. You're right. It's all my fault. But everything worked out okay, didn't it?"

"Yes, it did. But you never apologized to our members. Once you do I'll think about taking you back."

"You'll think about it?" Doyeon asked incredulously.''

"Or if you don't apologize, I won't even think about it."

Doyeon hopped up. "I'll be right back."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Suyeon and Sei were sitting in Suyeon's room, reading over the papers they had gotten from Lucy, when there was a knock at the door. Suyeon hastily gathered the papers into a stack and shoved then under her pillow. "Come in," she called out.

The door opened and Lua and Doyeon came in. Suyeon looked sceptically at them. "What's up?"

"I..." Doyeon began hesitantly. "I just wanted to apologize to you for making the members not trust you and for making you think you could break up Sei and Lucy, which technically I suppose you could, since you did. But I just wanted to apologize for causing drama. And you, Sei - I wanted to apologize to you for sending Suyeon to try to break up you and Lucy." She turned to Lua. "And you. I didn't do anything in particular to you, but you still got caught up in all the drama that I started."

"Let me guess," Sei said "Yoojung said she'd take you back if you apologized to everyone."

"No," Doyeon protested. "Not at all."

Suyeon fixed Doyeon with her most intense stare. "Oh really..."

Doyeon relented. "She said she'd think about taking me back. But I'm still sorry. Really."

"Lucy's on the couch," Lua said, "you can apologize to her while I'm talking to Suyeon."

"Thanks," Doyeon said. "See you later!" She dashed off.

Suyeon looked at Lua. "You had something you wanted to talk to me about?"

Lua nodded. "I just wanted to be sure you'd stopped trying to break up Rina and Elly."

Suyeon laughed. "Stopped? I never started! I just said I'd do that to get you to leave them alone. I figured it was just a matter of time before some of other girl caught your eye - like apparently Lucy has." She smiled knowingly.

Lua balled her hands up into fists and stomped her feet. "Oooooh! You unnies think you know everything!" Then she calmed down. "But you were right this time." She smiled bashfully. "I think Lucy and I are going to work out really well."

"Good," Sei said. "I never wanted her to be unhappy, and if she's happy with you, that's great."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Rina and Elly were walking in the park. Elly was walking calmly down the path, while Rina was walking back and forth in front of her, clearly agitated.

"So I'm not enough for you. Is that what you're saying?" Tears were glistening in Rina's eyes, threatening to overflow.

Elly shook her head. "I'm not saying that at all."

"So I'm not good enough? Is that it?"

Elly shook her head more firmly. "No, it's not that either?"

Rina stopped in front of Elly, her hands on her hips. "So what exactly are you saying?"

Elly stopped and shrugged. "I was just saying that Yoojung had some interesting things to say about nonmonogamy today, and that we should probably talk about it."

"Because you want another girl."

"No. Just so that we can discuss it and we'll each know how the other one feels about it."

"How did you think I was going to feel?" Rina was practically shaking with rage. "I just found out my girlfriend wants to cheat on me. I'm just peachy!"

"No, remember what Yoojung said? It's not cheating if everybody talks about it and everyone's okay with it."

"You've got an answer for everything, don't you?"

"I'm just trying to stay calm and talk about this," Elly said. "It's not like I've done anything, or even made any plans to do anything."

Just then Doyeon came around the corner. "Hey, Rina, Elly, I just-" Catching the mood of the pair, Doyeon stopped short and started to back away. "Nevermind. It's not urgent. We can talk la-" Doyeon was stopped short by Rina grabbing the front of her jersey, pulling her face down to her level, and planting a kiss on her lips. Elly's jaw dropped as Rina started making out with Doyeon, who wasn't actively participating but was too stunned to resist.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Lua lay back on the couch, watching figure skating. Actually, her eyes were on the TV, but her mind was a million miles away. Was Lucy really okay with her being Suyeon's side chick? Did Suyeon even want a side chick? Her mind kept flashing back to the way Suyeon looked when Lua found her asleep in Sei's bed. Her mouth got dry. Was this a good idea, or was she sitting here, her arm around her new girlfriend, contemplating deliberately making the worst mistake of her life?


	20. Chapter 20

Elly watched Rina trying to make out with a stunned Doyeon for a moment, then stepped forward, grabbed Rina by the hair, and pulled her off the other girl.

"Rina," Elly said, "that's not how we treat our unnies."

"I just... you... she... oooh..." Embarrassment was fighting anger in Rina's face, and was gradually winning. "I'm sorry Doyeon."

Elly let go of Rina's hair, then smoothed it down.

"It's okay," Doyeon said, "just surprising is all." She laughed nervously. "I might like it if I produced that reaction everywhere I go."

Rina blushed and took a step closer to Elly, who closed the remainder of the distance between them and put her arm around Rina's shoulders.

"Anyway," Elly said, trying to change the subject, "you said you had something you wanted to talk to us about."

"Oh, yeah," Doyeon said, nervously, "I just wanted to apologize to you for all the drama I caused. I know that I wasn't the one who sent Suyeon to try to break you up, but I created plenty of other drama, and that can't have helped matters."

"Thanks," Elly said. "I really appreciate that."

"Yeah," Rina said, from her protected location within Elly's embrace, "thank you Doyeon-unnie. And I'm sorry I kissed you like that."

"That's okay," Doyeon said, "you two obviously had something going on before I came up. And anyway, it wasn't entirely unpleasant."

"Not entirely unpleasant!" Rina scowled at Doyeon before turning to bury her face in Elly's shoulder.

"So," Elly said, changing the subject again, "how are things with you and Yoojung?"

"She's still mad at me," Doyeon said, shrugging, "but she said if I apologized to all our members she's think about taking me back, so that's how I've spent my evening."

"Well, good luck," Elly said, "and if you'll excuse us, Rina and I have some things we need to talk about before dinner."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Figure skating was still on. Lua was sitting on the couch and Lucy was lying down with her head in her lap. Lua was absent-mindedly playing with Lucy's hair. At the next commercial break, Lua decided it was time to start talking before she lost her nerve.

"Lucy?" she said quietly. Once the younger girl was looking into her eyes, she went on. "Did you mean what you said earlier about it being okay if I was Suyeon's side chick?"

Lucy nodded. "You heard what Yoojung said in the bus this morning. Monogamy is unnatural and possessive."

"Well, she didn't say exactly that, but something in the general area," Lua agreed.

"Anyway," why were you asking about Suyeon?" Lucy asked.

"I was just thinking," Lua began, her voice raspy because her mouth was so dry, "after what you said-" She stopped and took a sip of her tea, then started again. "Anyway, I was thinking, was that because you were okay with it if I already was Suyeon's side chick? Or would you still be okay with it if I wasn't already Suyeon's side chick but wanted to try to be?"

"Really?" Lucy seemed inordinately excited by this.

Lua nodded. "You we're really in a position to appreciate it, but the way Suyeon looked after Sei did a makeover on her was just... damn! You know? And with all the talking you've been doing about nonmonogamy, I find that I can't look at her without wondering what it would be like to kiss her."

Lucy sat up and bounced up and down on the couch. "That's great!"

Lua looked confused. "It is?"

Lucy nodded vigorously, still bouncing. "Look, you've heard the rumors about Twice and OT9, right?" Lua nodded hesitantly, and Lucy went on. "I heard those and it got me thinking about what it would be like if we had an OT8, and I discovered I loved the idea of being able to kiss any of our members."

"Well, you can start with me," Lua said.

Lucy climbed into Lua's lap and started kissing her. After a minute, she pulled back and asked "So you're going to make a play for Suyeon?"

Lua nodded. "If it's okay with you?"

Lucy smiled. "Okay with me? I might even help!"

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Suyeon and Sei had finished reading through her drug-induced writings.

"Wow," Sei said, "Stoned you is a perv. She wants to get with all our members!"

"Uh, yeah," Suyeon said, embarrassed. "I guess so."

"You know what they say," Sei said significantly.

Suyeon shook her head. "No. What do they say?"

"People who know a lot about such things," Suyeon said, "say that nothing comes out when you're stoned that isn't already there when you're sober."

"So you think I want to be with all our members?"

"It's not impossible," Sei said. "Your writing has obviously got Lucy thinking about it."

Suyeon rolled her eyes. "And what are we going to do about that?"

"Why do we need to do anything?"

Suyeon looked at her. "Really? You don't think there's any need for us to do anything about the fact that Lucy has apparently gone girl crazy and wants all of our members to be her girlfriends?"

Sei shrugged. "If anything, it's keeping her out of trouble. If it starts causing drama, then we can see about doing something about it. Besides, if we try doing anything about it now, she'll just point out that it's your idea and so she's no guiltier than you are."I

Suyeon shook her head. "But I don't want that! I want one girlfriend and she's you!". She leaned forward and kissed Sei.

Sei shook the stack of papers at her. "You say that, but your subconscious disagrees."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Doyeon walked up to where Yoojung was sitting at the top of the stairs and sat down beside her.

"I apologized to all the members," she said.

"Good for you, " Yoojung said, turning away from Doyeon and resting her head on her knees.

"What's wrong?" Doyeon asked. "I'd think you'd be happy about that."

"Yeah, I'm so happy because I saw you kissing Rina. Why aren't you still with her? "

"No, it's not like that," Doyeon protested. "She kissed me, and anyway, she's still with Elly."

" Oh, yeah, " Yoojung said, raising her head and looking at Doyeon. "You really expect me to believe that the member with the strongest belief in monogamy kissed you in front of her girlfriend?"

Doyeon nodded. "Yeah."

Yoojung stood up. "I can't even talk to you right now. I'm going back to the apartment."

And she turned and walked off.


	21. Chapter 21

Lucy was bouncing up and down on the couch by Lua, figure-skating forgotten. "So you're really going to do it?"

"I'm thinking about it," Lua said.

"That's a yes! That's a yes!" Lucy clapped her hand excitedly.

Lua looked confused. "I just don't see why you're so excited about this. I mean, I see what I'd get out of it. What do you get out of this?"

"I already told you, silly," Lucy said. "I want us to be an OT8. For that to happen I've got to" - she put on her best Yoojung impression - "break the chains of monogamy wherever I find them."

"You do realize," Lua asked carefully, "that Rina and Elly actually like the 'chains of monogamy," don't you?"

Lucy sighed, then started to pout. "Yeah, they're going to be the big problem. That's why I'm saving them to later, taking the easier wins first."

Lua laughed. "So in other words you've got no idea and you're hoping for inspiration."

"Something like that," Lucy agreed. "But I've got time to worry about that later. Right now I've got work to do before dinner."

"You do?" Lua leaned in and kissed Lucy. "What's that?"

"Well," Lucy said, turning to sit cross-legged on the couch facing Lua and folding her hands in her lap. "Right now we all look like we got up super early and went to the Olympics and watched a hockey game and just generally have had a big day and are kind of tired. So I've got to do your makeup so that you don't look tired. We want you to look perky and bright when you sit down next to Suyeon at dinner."

Lua covered her mouth with her hand as she yawned. "I don't think a whole factory full of makeup could make me feel perky and bright."

"Just you wait 'til I'm done with you," Lucy said with a grin. "But first, I'm going to run down to the coffee shop on the corner to buy you a cafe Americano."

Lua laughed. "Remind me to next have you conspiring against me!"

"You wouldn't stand a chance," Lucy said with a wink, as she jumped up to go get her shoes on.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Rina and Elly were walking by the pond.

"So we're cool?" Elly was asking. "We understand that we've here for each other and no matter what kind of drama the others get into, we won't let it touch us?"

Rina nodded. "We're cool. Um... what time is it?"

Elly checked her phone. "Almost dinner time - we'd better get heading back."

"Especially since it's your turn to fix dinner."

Elly froze, her hand covering her mouth. "It is, isn't it? Oh no oh no oh no! What am I gonna do?"

Rina thought for a moment, then looked decisive. "You and I are going to run back to the apartment as fast as we can. I'll help you with the chopping and you should be able to get bibimbap done in time."

"Sounds good." And without another word Elly took off for the apartment at a run, leaving Rina to catch up.

Just a few minutes later they kicked off their shoes and skidded to a stop in the kitchen, gasping to catch their breath. They had almost run into Lucy, who was walking carefully up the stairs carrying a coffee, and had almost tripped over Doyeon, who was sitting at the top of the stairs, but they thought they'd made it in plenty of time. After they washed their hands and put on aprons, Rina started chopping vegetables while Elly checked to be sure she'd remembered to set the timer on the rice cooker before they left for the Olympics that morning. She had, so she was off to chopping and frying beef and frying eggs. Sooner than she'd have believed would be possible, they were arranging the beef and vegetables on top of the bowls of rice and topping each with a fried egg. They were actually a couple of minutes early when they called their members to dinner.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Doyeon sat at the top of the stairs, trying to figure out what she was going to do about Yoojung. As much as she kind of didn't want to admit it, the fact was she felt incomplete without Yoojung, like she was missing an arm. She'd tried putting a brave face on things, to act like it didn't bother her, but the fact of the matter was that everything sucked without Yoojung and nothing would feel right until she could get the two of them back together again. She looked up just in time to see Rina's knee collide with her face as the younger girl fell over her.

"Sorry unnie," Rina called out as she got up and ran off, "rushing to help Elly get dinner ready on time."

Doyeon realized that her nose was bleeding. She pinched it shut and headed back to the apartment to get some tissues to stop the bleeding.

Once she had stopped the bleeding, Doyeon headed to the bathroom to wash the blood off her face. When she got there, she found that Lucy and Lua were already there, doing Lua's makeup.

Doyen whistled. "Lookin' fancy! Going somewhere special tonight?"

Lua shook her head, causing Lucy to grab her jaw to hold her still. "Just dinner with my members."

Doyeon panicked. Had she forgotten someone's birthday? Was it some important band anniversary? Drawing a blank, she finally asked "Is tonight something special?"

Lucy shook her head. "No. We just thought it would be fun to do Lua's makeup."

Knowing how much Lua usually complained about having to wear makeup, Doyeon somehow doubted this,but she figured if the younger girls had wanted to let her in on their plans they'd have done so already. So she just washed her face and headed back to her room to change into a blood-free shirt.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Suyeon had pulled Sei down onto the bed next to her and was kissing her occasionally as they talked.

"But even if," Suyeon was saying, "even if we accept that stoned me is a perv, and even if we take that to mean subconscious me is a perv, that doesn't mean regular me has to act that way, does it?"

"I wouldn't say 'have to,'" Sei said, nipping gently at Suyeon's lower lip, "but 'might want to' is definitely a possibility. I mean, come on: Haven't you ever had a crush on two girls at once and wished you could have them both and didn't have to choose?"

"Well, yeah," Suyeon admitted hesitantly.

"Then there you go," Sei said, gesturing triumphantly, "you're Team Bella."

Suyeon shook her head. "No, everyone feels like that sometimes. It doesn't mean they're going to act on it."

"Remember manager-unnie's email about ships?"

"Yeah," Suyeon admitted, not at all sure where this was going.

"She used Blackpink as an example. Well, what if the reason that Blackpink switches up and plays ships so well is because the Blackpink OT4 rumors are true."

"But those rumors get spread about every group that isn't actively fighting. Blackpink OT4. Twice OT8. Big Bang OT5. They can't all be true."

"Even if they're not all true, some of them must be."

Suyeon looked confused. "What makes you say that?"

"I was reading a Sports Illustrated article about the Olympics where they were talking about all the supplies they had to have for the athlete's village: Hundred of pounds of beef, tons of boneless skinless chicken breasts, tankerloads of fruit juice. . . and thousands of condoms."

"Huh?"

"The Olympic Committee is just acknowledging facts," Sei explained. "When you get that many attractive people at the peak of physical fitness together, sex is gonna happen. I think the same is true in Kpop, only more so, because we live in dorms all the time instead of just a few weeks every four years, and also because we're forbidden to date anybody else. It'd be unnatural if at least some of the 'OT-number' rumors weren't true."

"I see where you're going with this," Suyeon said with a knowing smile.

"You do?" Sei looked suddenly confused.

Suyeon nodded. "You're wondering if you made the right choice, and wishing that you hadn't had to give up Lucy to get with me."

Sei shook her head. "No, that wasn't what I was saying at all."

"Then what were you saying?"

And Sei was, uncharacteristically, at a loss for words.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Yoojung looked up from her book, startled, when Doyeon came bursting into the room. "What's wrong?"

Doyeon stopped short, suddenly realizing how fast she'd been moving and how much noise she'd been making. "Nothing. I just had a nosebleed and came to get a clean shirt before dinner."

Yoojung laid her book aside and was suddenly standing in front of Doyeon, examining her face. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I was sitting at the top of the stairs after you left, when Rina came along and kneed me in the face."

Yoojung laughed. "Okay, you got me! Now, what really happened?"

Doyeon looked hurt. "That is what really happened!"

"Rina kneed you in the face? Our quietest, more nonviolent member kneed you in the face? Do you remember what a hard time we had getting her to hit someone when we tried boxing with full protective gear?"

Doyeon rolled her eyes. "It wasn't like that. It's not like she attached me. She was just running up the stairs and didn't see me and tripped over me and in the process her knee hit me in the nose. And then my nose started bleeding."

Yoojung tried not to laugh. "Okay, that makes more sense. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You'd better be." Yoojung went up on her tiptoes and kissed Doyeon on the lips. "Anyone that hurts you will have to deal with me."

"Does that mean-"

Whatever Doyeon was about to ask was drowned out by Elly calling "Weki Meki! Dinner!"


	22. Chapter 22

Every rushed to get to the dinner table - breakfast had been a long time ago and none of them had remembered to eat a proper lunch.

"It looks delicious!" Lucy squealed, running around the table to give Elly a hug. "Thank you unnie!"

"Um. . . you're welcome?" Especially since she and Rina got together, Elly wasn't sure how to deal with the members showing affection toward her. "I couldn't have gotten it done in time without Rina's help."

Lucy spun around and caught Rina up in a hug. "Thank you too!" Lucy grabbed Rina and Elly by the hands and led them to the table, arranging things so that she ended up sitting between them. Lucy looked around the table: Doyeon and Yoojung were sitting next to each other, and Suyeon was sandwiched between Lua and Sei.

Once they'd all eaten enough to take the edge off their hunger, they started talking to each other. To Lucy's surprise, Sei didn't start talking to Suyeon but instead turned to her other side and started talking to Elly, asking her questions about cooking. This left Lua with no competition for Suyeon's attention. Lucy watched as Lua leaned over and whispered something in Suyeon's ear that caused Suyeon to blush. Suddenly, Lucy realized that Rina was talking to her, and had been for who knows how long.

"What was that?" she asked. "Sorry - I kind of spaced out there."

"Oh," said Rina. "I was just saying that you seem to be really happy this evening."

"I really am," Lucy said, leaning in to give Rina another hug. "It's been a really great day, don't you think? Getting to go to the Olympics and then having free time to hang out with our members. Don't you think it was a great day?"

"I don't know," Rina said quietly. "Elly and I got into a fight after we got back from the Olympics. By the time it was time to fix dinner, we had everything smoothed over, but I don't know if we solved anything?"

Lucy widened her eyes, feigning more surprise than she actually felt. "You two had a fight? But you two are, like, the most stable couple of all of us. What could you possibly be fighting about?"

"About those things that Yoojung said on the bus this morning." Rina paused, deep in thought for a moment. "Elly wanted to talk about that, but I got jealous. I thought it meant she didn't want me. Or that she wanted me less. Or at any rate, that she wanted someone else."

"And . . . if she had?" Lucy tentatively ventured. "Would that have been so bad?"

"Well . . . yes," Rina said, in a tone that implied this was so obvious it needn't have even come up for discussion. "I want her to be mine, and I want to be hers."

"Okay, yeah, that makes sense," Lucy said, before quickly going on, "but what if instead you think about things this way: You like ramen, and you like bibimbap. Now, on a night like tonight, when you're eating bibimbap, does that mean you like ramen any less? And when you're eating ramen, does that mean you don't like bibimbap anymore."

Rina pondered this for a second. "Well, no, but that's different. It's not at all the same sort of thing. It's. . . "

Rina was interrupted by the noise of Suyeon and Lua getting up to leave the table. Lucy looked up at Lua and lifted an eyebrow interrogatively.

"Hey sweetie," Lua said, "you can go back to talking with Rina. Suyeon and I are going for a walk. I'll see you later."

As Lua and Suyeon walked out of the apartment with their arms around each other, Lucy wondered if she was the only one who saw Lua's hand drop from Suyeon's waist and slide into her back pocket.

"You see," Rina said, "that's why it's different. Suyeon stole Sei from you, and now she's got her eye on Lua."

"Excuse me?" Sei had apparently heard was Rina had just said, and now she was standing up leaning across the table toward Rina. Doyeon and Yoojung stopped whatever they were talking about and looked up to watch the drama.

"It's not like that," Sei was saying, periodically slapping the table for emphasis. "I'm not a wristwatch or something that I can just be stolen. I'm with Suyeon because I want to be, and if I hadn't wanted to be, there's nothing she could have done that would have gotten me to leave Lucy. And maybe someday I'll decide I should be with Lucy again, if she wants me then, because times change and people change, and maybe - just maybe - if you wouldn't flip out every time Elly showed the slightest bit of interest in so much as talking to someone other than you, you'd both be happier!" And with that, Sei stormed off into her room and slammed the door.

Rina sat there stunned for a moment, then got up and rushed to her room, apparently on the verge of tears. Elly got up and followed her. In a matter of less than a minute, Lucy found herself alone at the table with Doyeon and Yoojung. Putting on her most innocent face, she turned to them and said "Dishes are still my nightly chore for the next couple of weeks, so you can just leave your dishes here when you're done. I'm going to go see if I can calm Sei down." Picking up her bowl and taking it with her, she went to Sei's room and let herself in.

Doyeon and Yoojung looked at each other. "Something going on," Doyeon said.

Yoojung nodded. "And unless I'm mistaken, our little maknae is behind it."

Doyeon put on an expression of mock-astonishment. "Surely not!"

They both laughed and went back to eating their dinner. After a few minutes, Yoojung said "The question is: Are we better off figuring out what she's doing so we can be prepared, or trying to stay out of things altogether?"

Doyeon shrugged, swallowed a mouthful of rice, and said "How about 'all of the above'? We try to figure out what she's up to, but at the same time try to stay out of it."

"That's probably the best idea," Yoojung said. "It's just - arrrrrrghh - so much drama!"


	23. Chapter 23

As Lucy let herself into Sei and Luna's room, she saw that Sei was pacing back and forth across the room, muttering to herself.

"As if I can be stolen. . . . so insulting. . . . Who does Rina think she is? . . . Thinks she's so much better than us. . . . Grrrrrrrr! . . ."

Lucy waiting until one of the gaps between mutterings to interject "We'll just have to show her what's what, won't we?"

Sei stopped short, for the first time noticing that there was someone else in the room with her. "Oh! Umm, hi Lucy. What was that you were saying?"

"Oh," Lucy said, sitting down on Sei's bed and reclining, "I was just saying we'd show Rina what's what, you know. By us being happy over here while she's still freaking out every time anyone so much as breathes in Elly's direction."

"And what does that have to do with us?"

"You know," Lucy said, examining her fingernails. "At least, I think you do." She looked up at Sei. "Do you know where Suyeon is right now?"

Sei shrugged. "Her room, I think."

Lucy shook her head. "Not unless she walked in there within the last minute or so. No, she's out for a walk in the moonlight with Lua."

Sei's jaw dropped. "Really? I was encouraging her to go for that!"

Lucy nodded. "And I was encouraging Lua to go for it!"

Sei sat down on the bed by Lucy. They held each other's hands. "Does this mean what I think it means?" Sei asked.

Lucy nodded. "It means," they both said at once, "that if our girlfriends become girlfriends then we can be girlfriends again!"

Lucy threw her arms around Sei in a big hug and they both collapsed laughing.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Yoojung and Doyeon went to the common room and turned on the TV. Men's figure-skating was on. Doyeon leaned back on the couch and Yoojung cuddled up to her. In just a few minutes there was a commercial break, starting with a commercial from Maybelline starring Doyeon. Yoojung looked up at her. "I remember when you made this commercial!"

Doyeon leaned down and kissed Yoojung. "I still wear that lipstick, too - it doesn't kiss off!" And she kissed Yoojung again.

"So..." Yoojung said, once she was able to reclaim her mouth, "what do we think our maknae is up to?"

"Well, let's see," Doyeon said, "I've got a feeling she was somehow behind Lua and Suyeon leaving dinner together tonight."

Yoojung nodded. "And she got me monologuing about polyamory this afternoon."

Doyeon stopped and thought a moment. "So apparently she's planning polyamory. So the question is 'is she interested in polyamory for just her, Suyeon, Sei, and Lua, or are is she wanting to get the rest of us involved in this too?'"

Yoojung thought for a second. "Given the way she was trying to change Rina's mind at dinner, I'd say she's trying to get Rina and Elly involved. And have you ever known Lucy to stop short of the most extreme version of anything?"

Doyeon nodded. "So it looks like 'OT8' is in her plans."

Yoojung stretched up and kissed Doyeon again. "And how do we feel about that?"

Doyeon hugged Yoojung and said "I think the real question is 'How do you feel about that?' I mean, you're the one who freaked out when she saw Rina kissing me."

Yoojung cuddled up to Doyeon. "I know. I'm sorry about that. In theory OT8 sounds like a good idea. But there's so much potential for drama with it. But I don't want the maknaes to say 'Yoojung-unnie talks a good game, but when push comes to shove she quits.' But I know that's not really a reason to go for it. But OMG being able to kiss any of our members! But..."

Doyeon leaned down and kissed Yoojung on top of the head. "We're going to be here a while, aren't we?"

Yoojung only nodded.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Rina was sitting on her bed talking to Elly, a scowl creasing her forehead.  
'  
"I don't care what Lucy or Yoojung-unnie says," Rina said. "I don't care how good an idea it is in theory. As far as I'm concerned, I'm yours and you're mine and that's that. I don't care who the others date so long as they're not interfering in our relationship."

"So we're agreed," Elly said, reaching up to brush Rina's hair back and tuck it behind her ear. "Weki Meki OT8 is not gonna happen. Now all we've got to do is get Lucy to stop trying to make it happen."

"I'll talk to her when she comes to bed tonight. She'll just have to listen to reason."

"Ummm." Elly bit her bottom lip as she tried to come up with the most diplomatic way to phrase this. "I think we can both agree that listening to reason isn't Lucy's strong suit, especially not when it comes from you. Remember when you tried to convince her not to wear her favorite yellow shirt to the cooking lessons for Liiv Cafe?"

Rina nodded. "I think she wore it just to spite me. And then she ended up getting secret sauce on the sleeve and that stain never came out. But she never admitted that I was right."

"Exactly," Elly said. "The only one who Lucy ever listens to is Yoojung. We've got to see if we can get her to help us out."

"Assuming that she hasn't gotten on board the OT8 train."

Elly shook her head. "Even if Yoojung is on board with the idea of OT8, she won't try to force us into it if we don't want it."

Rina got up and looked out at the rest of the apartment. "Yoojung and Doyeon are sitting on the couch watching figure skating. Let's go talk to them!"

"No I don't think that-" But Elly never got to finish this sentence, because Rina was already gone.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Suyeon and Lua were walking down by the pond, watching the moonlight reflect off its water. They were huddled close because it was a cold night and in their haste they'd just thrown on their jackets, forgetting gloves, hats, or scarves. Suyeon's eyes were wide with surprise at something Lua had just said.

"Really? Lucy said that?" Suyeon was struggling to keep her voice down, when every part of her wanted to scream in disbelief.

Lua nodded vigorously. "Our little maknae wants everything."

Suyeon looked thoughtful. "I'm pretty sure I know how you feel about it, or else you wouldn't be here. I've got an idea of how Sei feels about it. You've just told me in her own words how Lucy feels about it..."

Lua interrupted her. "And how do you feel about it?"

Suyeon leaned down and kissed Lua, a long, lingering kiss that ended with her playfully licking the younger girl's bottom lip. "Does that answer your question?"

Lua blushed. "It does. And I like that answer."

Suyeon laughed. "Now the question is: How do our other members feel about this idea?"

Lua looked thoughtful. "Yoojung and Doyeon could go either way. I know Yoojung is on board in theory, but I don't know how they'd react to the reality."

"And Rina and Ella. . ."

Lua nodded. "They're going to be the problem."

Lua leaned in and kissed Suyeon again. "So we've got OT4, a pair of maybe, and a pair of no."

"You think Lucy will be okay with that?"

Lua raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever known Lucy to stop halfway when she wants something?"

Suyeon grabbed Lua's hand and started pulling her back toward the apartment. "We've got to stop her before she does something!"


	24. Chapter 24

Lua and Suyeon rushed into the apartment. Rina, Elly, Doyeon, and Yoojung were clustered together on the couch. Lucy and Sei were nowhere to be seen.

"OK," Suyeon said quietly, "looks like we got here before Lucy caused any drama."

Lua nodded. "Let's go see if they're in my room."

Lua and Suyeon walked into the room that Lua shared with Sei. Lucy and Sei were sitting on the bed making out.

Suyeon stopped inside the doorway and crossed her arms. "Well," she said, "it looks like someone made some assumptions about how their girlfriends were going to react to suggestions of polyamory."

Lucy and Sei separated, surprised. Lucy looked at Suyeon at put on her best "innocent maknae" face. "But were we wrong?" she asked.

Suyeon sat down on the bed next to Lucy and kissed her on the cheek. "No, you weren't. This time." She paused for effect. "But if you try assuming things like that with Doyeon and Yoojung - or even worse, with Elly and Rina - it could cause all kinds of drama."

Lucy bounced from side to side, doing a little seated happy dance. "I knew we'd get you and Sei on board!"

Lua smiled at her. "Yes, you've got your OT4." Lua sat down on the bed and put her arm around Sei. "But Doyeon and Yoojung are going to be harder to get on board."

Suyeon nodded. "And Rina and Elly are probably going to be impossible."

Lucy looked from one face to another. "So you're all giving up? But... but we can do this! Remember: We're eight girls who hold keys to open up a new world!"

Suyeon nodded. "We are. But we're also eight girls who have keys that recognize each other. And part of that means recognizing the differences in our personalities."

"So that's it?" Lucy sputtered. 'We're just giving up?" She looked at Suyeon, then at Lau, each of whom nodded. Desperate for support, she turned to Sei. "You too, Sei? Are you just giving up?"

Sei shrugged. "I don't want any more drama. If we stop where we are right now, things are good, and there's no new drama."

Lucy frowned and pouted. "I can't believe you'd all give up like that, just because things are getting a little difficult." She stood up and was about to storm out of the room, but before she could move, Suyeon grabbed her, pulled her down into her lap, and started covering her with kisses. After a couple of minutes of struggling, Lucy gave in and turned her head to return Suyeon's kisses. She nipped at the older girl's bottom lip and kissed her deeply, aggressively claiming her mouth. When they finally had to break the kiss in order to breathe, Lucy looked knowingly at Suyeon, who was blushing furiously.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Sei exclaimed. "We're not going to convince the others by appealing to logic, or by arguing with them. The best thing we can do is be so happy and have so much fun that being in the poly ship looks infinitely better than being outside it." She reached across and stroked Lucy's back. "I know it's not your strong suit, but try a little patience."

Lucy scowled and pouted. "I hate waiting. Why do they have to be so difficult? Why can't we just-" whatever she had been about to suggest was cut off by Lua crawling across the bed and kissing her.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Rina, Elly, Dooyeon, and Yoojung were huddled together on the couch, counting on the noise of the television to cover up what they were saying.

"So we're all in agreement," Elly was saying, "that Lucy's ultimate goal is Weki Meki OT8. Rina and I don't want to be part of that, and you two aren't sure if you want it or not..."

"We need time to think and discuss," Yoojung said. "Even if our answer is yes, this isn't something you can just jump into."

Doyeon put her arm around Yoojung's shoulders. "We've all had trouble keeping our couples together recently. How much harder would it be to try to be in a group of 8? It'd be constant drama!"

"So the four of use," Rina said, gesturing at the group on the couch, "need to work together to resist. We've got to keep our couples strong, and if we are having problems, don't let the others see it. You'll watch out for us and we'll watch out for you, and if any drama starts, we'll have each other's backs."

Yoojung nodded decisively. "Exactly. And even if Doyeon and I do decide to join an OT6, we'll still have your backs."

Rina jumped up and hugged Doyeon and Yoojung. "Thanks, unnies."

"Hey everyone!" Suyeon's voice rang out, carefully pitched to be able to be heard anywhere in the apartment. "We've got a big day tomorrow. Dance practice, plus 3 radio interviews, plus a TV appearance. Everyone wrap up whatever you're doing and get to bed." She walked into her room and came out a moment later with her pajamas and towel, headed to get a shower.

"Oh shit!" Rina exclaimed. "I've still got to do the dishes!" Turning on the aegyo, she turned to Yoojung and Doyeon. "Help me out, unnies? You said you'd have my back."

Doyeon laughed. "I don't think doing dishes qualifies as resisting the OT4."

Elly got up and hugged Rina from behind. "I'll help out," she said. "After all, you helped me cook."

As Rina and Elly made their way to the kitchen, Doyeon turned off the TV, pulled Yoojung up out of the couch, and the two of them made their way to their room.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

"I know we've got to get up early," Lucy said, "but I don't want this night to end."

"What'd you have in mind?" Lua asked.

Lucy looked around the room. "How about we push the beds together so we can all four sleep in here tonight?"

Lua and Sei looked at each other, raised their eyebrows questioningly, shrugged, then burst out laughing.

"OK, I'll take that as a yes," Lucy said, "bouncing up and down excitedly. "Lua, you go watch from the door. Grab Suyeon after she gets out of the shower, before she gets into her bed. Sei, you come help me move the furniture."

Sei made a show of scowling at Lucy. "Anyone ever tell you you're bossy? Especially for a maknae?"

Lucy stuck out her tongue and laughed. "Yes, and you love me anyway."

Sei couldn't think of an answer to this, so she started pushing the beds. Lucy helped her and soon they'd turned two small beds into one larger bed - certainly large enough for four girls who didn't mind cuddling.


	25. Chapter 25

The next morning they started the day by rolling dice for the day's ships. The results were Rina and Doyeon, Elly and Yoojung, Suyeon and Lua, and Sei and Lucy. Suyeon was rather relieved to see that no one inside the OT4 was paired with anyone outside the OT4 - that left her with one less thing to worry about.

When it was time to go, they all piled into the van, talking excitedly. The TV show they were going to be on was notorious for having idols compete in challenges that had nothing to do with singing or dancing, so they were occupied during the van ride with trying to guess what sort of challenges they'd face. Rina said she didn't really care what it was, so long as it wasn't cooking.

But the producers might as well have been reading Rina's mind: They had to do a cooking challenge, with a gourmet chef as a guest judge. Specifically they were making omelettes. Doyeon tried her best to protect their omelette from Rina, but to no avail, as they ended up instead with a plate of scrambled eggs. Sei and Lucy, though, surprised everyone by turning out a practically perfect omelette. "If you ever decide that singing and dancing isn't for you," the chef told them, "you can come work in my restaurant." Sei and Lucy bowed and thanked the chef for her compliment. Suyeon was proud of them - they couldn't have done better if they had practiced this conversation specifically.

The radio interviews all ran together into a big blur. Each began with a round of recording station identification messages, both individually and as a group. Suyeon kept tripping over her tongue on one of the messages and had to record it several times before finally getting it right. She was pretty sure that when she went to sleep, she'd dream about the words "This is Suyeon from Weki Meki and you're listening to radio 97.3, your hot pop channel!" There was one question during the last radio interview that could have gone horribly wrong, but fortunately it didn't: The host asked the group who had the best aegyo, and everyone pointed to Lucy. Then he asked who was most immune to Lucy's aegyo and Yoojung pointed to Elly. The host then said for Lucy to try convincing Elly to go for ice cream with her. Fortunately, Lucy kept things light and playful, didn't get out of bounds, and at the end of the question, there actually was ice cream for everyone! After the interview, they all bowed to the host and thanked him for having them on his show.

As they walked out to the van, Suyeon could hear Lucy behind her turning on her aegyo, but she wasn't close enough to hear exactly what she was saying. When they were turning a corner she was able to steal a glance behind her and saw that Lucy was talking with manager-nim. As they got closer to the bus, Lucy skipped up to the front of the group and grabbed on to Sei's arm.

"What was that about?" Suyeon asked her.

"What was what about?" Lucy genuinely looked puzzled.

"You using aegyo on manager-nim."

"Oh, that!" Lucy wave dismissively. "I was just convincing her that since Doyeon and Yoojung are going to be away for the next couple of days filming their video with WJMK that we should get to go out to eat tonight to celebrate."

Suyeon's jaw dropped. "And she actually agreed to it?" Manager-nim tended to not like anything that called for spending money or changing their routine, and this called for both.

Lucy grinned proudly. "Not only are we going out to eat. . . Do you remember Chef Lee from this morning? We're going to her restaurant!"

Suyeon shook her head. "I'm not going to ask how you did it. I'm just going to enjoy my dinner."

 

Manager-nim called ahead to the restaurant before leaving the TV station, then dropped the girls off at the restaurant with instructions for them to call her when they had finished eating. The maitre d' met them at the door and escorted them to a private dining room in the back. For a first course, they were served omelettes. Suyeon raised her glass and said "To Lucy, for convincing manager-nim that we should go out to dinner!"

"To Lucy!" Anyone else might have been embarrassed to have all her friends toasting her like this, but Lucy just smiled and accepted it as if it was her right. She smiled benevolently at all of them and said "Thank you, thank you. Now let's eat before our omelettes get cold." They had just finished their omelettes when the waiters came in, swept their plates away, and served them all sizzling bowls of dolsot bibimbap. They all agreed it was the best bibimbap they'd ever had - and not just because they were all hungry, not having had time for a proper lunch.

Just as they were finishing their bibimbap, Chef Lee came in to see them. She reached into the pocket of her chef's jacket and pulled out a copy of their first CD. "I was so impressed with your cooking today, I stopped to buy your CD after I left the studio. I've been listening to it in the kitchen all afternoon." They all signed the poster that came with Chef Lee's CD, then called Manager-nim to come get them.

When they got in the van for the ride back to the dorm, Sei put her arm around Lucy, kissed her on the cheek, and said "First you and I won the cooking contest, then you got to demonstrate your aegyo on the radio, then you convinced Manager-nim to take us all out to dinner. I'd say today has been all about you."

Lucy returned her kiss and smiled, laying her head on Sei's shoulders. "I'd say it's been about all of us," she said. "I've just been doing my part to see to it that all my members are happy and successful."

Sei rolled her eyes. She knew Lucy was up to something, but she wasn't sure what. She hoped it was nothing more than her stated intention from the night before, of making the OT4 look so much more attractive than being outside that the other girls would want to join. But she was keeping her eyes open, in case there was more to it than that - their maknae was devious!


	26. Chapter 26

By the time everyone woke up the next morning, Manager-nim had already come by and taken Doyeon and Yoojung to their video shoot with WJMK. The rest of the group ate their breakfast and headed off to dance practice.

"Argh," Suyeon groaned at the first break. "Dance practice with two members missing is the worst! It's giving me a headache." While dancing their own parts, they also had to mentally keep track of where Yoojung and Doyeon would have been if they had been there.

By lunch time, Suyeon definitely had a headache. "I'm so glad I don't have school this afternoon. I'm going to take a nap and hopefully I'll feel human again by dinnertime."

Just then, Suyeon's phone rang. She looked at the screen before answering - "Oh, great, it's Manager-nim. What does she want?"

The others waited impatiently for Suyeon to get off the phone. The half the conversation they could hear was enough to pique their interest, but not enough to really communicate anything. "Hello! . . . How's the video shoot going? . . . We just finished dance practive. Elly and I were about to go back to the apartment while the others go to school. . . . Really? . . . Tonight? . . . Oh, right, I'd forgotten about that. . . . Yeah, sure I'll tell them. We'll be ready. Thank you, Manager-nim!"

"We'll be ready for what?" Elly asked as soon as Suyeon hung up the phone.

"At 6 o'clock a van will be coming to pick us up. We're going to be on Tipsy Live tonight!"

The group broke out into cheers.

"But not-" Suyeon had to raise her voice to be heard over the cheers - "not all of us. Rina and Lucy have to stay in the apartment; they're not old enough to be on the show." Suyeon held up her hands to fend off the maknaes, who were advancing on her angrily. "Hey, I didn't make the rules! Take it up with the government."

Suyeon and Elly managed to calm down the maknaes somewhat and everyone split up to go where they needed to be for the afternoon, four of them looking forward to the evening and two of them still grumbling about it.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Sei watched her members walking into the studio where Tipsy Live is filmed. She was kind of amused by the different approaches they had each taken to the instructions "Dress as if for a night on the town." Suyeon was wearing a classic little black dress (and totally rocking it). Elly was wearing a red plaid skirt with a white blouse. Sei was wearing a navy blue pinafore dress with a light blue blouse underneath. And Lua . . . well, Lua was marching to her own drummer here. She was wearing her Team Korea hockey jersey, a pair of jeans, and white trainers.

She turned her attention from her members to the room they were being show into. The small space was dominated by a long table, which featured enough food for at least twice as many girls, plus over a dozen bottles of soju. On one side of the table there was a long bench for them to sit on, while on the other there was a video screen for karaoke. In short, everything they needed to get totally trashed and make fools of themselves for the fans' amusement.

"Once filming begins," the producer was saying, "you won't see us unless you need something and hit the buzzer at the end of the table. The cameras are all hidden; we'll be monitoring the action from the next room. I usually find that within 10 minutes or two shots most people have forgotten about the cameras and are just enjoying a night out drinking with their friends."

Elly slid down to the far end of the bench and sat down, then Suyeon, then Sei, then Lua. The producer did one last check to be sure they had enough soju and enough glasses, then left them to it.

"See you in a few hours," he said as he shut the door.

"Let's get started," Suyeon said, lining up four glasses and pouring shots for everyone. "I wish we were doing this with all our members here, but I'm sure the four of us will have a great time."

"Remember," Elly said as they picked up their glasses, "you have to drink the whole shot in one go."

And with that shot they began a long evening of eating, drinking, singing, drinking, goofing around, and drinking. They did love shots, which were never entirely satisfactory as they always ended up spilling part of the drink on each other. They played drinking games. One of Sei's favorite parts of the evening was watching Suyeon sing and dance to AOA's "Bingle Bangle," using a chicken skewer as a microphone. As the evening wore on, Elly decided that using glasses was just a needless complication and started to drink soju straight from the bottle. At one point Suyeon had to wrestle the remote away from Lua to stop her from putting on "Haru Haru" and making everybody cry. Soon after that, I came out from the karaoke speakers announcing "Last call! You've got time for one more song!"

It was Sei's turn to choose the song, and she knew just the banger to end the night on a high note. As Suyeon was pouring a last round of shots, Sei cued up Big Bang's "Bang Bang Bang. As everyone picked up their shots and the music started, Sei yelled "Don't drink until G-Dragon-oppa says 'Bang Bang Bang,' then slam it!"

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Once the unnies finished getting dressed and left for their filming, the apartment suddenly seemed large, quiet, and empty to Lucy and Rina.

"Well," Lucy said, "I don't want to just sit here being pathetic with whatever random show's on TV right now. Would you rather watch a movie or have a dance party?"

Rina thought for a moment. "Let's do both! I've got just the thing." She disappeared into Suyeon and Elly's room and came out with Elly's much-watched copy of High School Musical.

About 20 minutes into the movie, Lucy shook her head. "No way," she began, catching Rina's attention, "There's no way anyone was ever intended to watch this movie sober."

Rina got a wicked glint in her eye. "What did you have in mind?"

Lucy got down on the floor and started fishing around under Suyeon's ugly brown recliner. After a moment, she came back up with a joint and a lighter. "This should make the movie more watchable," she said, laughing.

And it did. After the Wildcats had sung and danced their way to the triumphant conclusion, they decided to go to the kitchen for a snack. They found a roll of cookie dough in the fridge and started preheating the oven to make cookies, then decided they'd rather just eat the cookie dough. So they took the cookie dough back to the living room and, fortified by another joint, decided to watch High School Musical 2. When that was finished, Elly went to get High School Musical 3, only to discover that someone had left Phantom of the Opera in that box. Since by that point they were really beyond caring what they watched, they grabbed a bag of chips and settled in on the sofa to watch Phantom. About halfway through, Lucy got paranoid, afraid the Phantom was going to come get them because they were singers. Rina hugged her and rocked her back and forth, making soothing noises. Soon Lucy fell asleep. Rina tried to disentangle herself, only to discover that Lucy had such a tight grip on her arms she couldn't get them free. So she settled in as best she could with her arms locked around Lucy, and promptly fell asleep herself.

The end credits were just starting to roll when the unnies staggered in. "Maknaes!" Suyeon called out. "We're home! Where are you?"

"I found them!" Lua said, pointing to the couch.

"Why is it so hot in here?" Elly asked, fanning herself. They checked the thermostat, then discovered that the maknaes had left the oven on. After this was fixed, the unnies headed off to bed. Elly got upset seeing Rina cuddled up to Lucy, and wanted to wake her up to yell at her.

"If you do," Sei said, standing between Elly and the sleeping maknaes, "I'll tell Rina that you kissed Suyeon while playing the pepero game - twice!"

The wind taken out of her sails, Elly stumbled off to her bed. Sei went to the kitchen and drank a large glass of water, and when she got back to her room she discovered that Suyeon and Lua were both lying in her bed, already asleep. Shrugging, she crawled in between them and dozed off.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^  
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^  
AUTHOR NOTE: I came up with the idea for this chapter after seeing the episode of Tipsy Live featuring Apink. You can watch it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-XrFLuF65w - it's definitely worth it.


	27. Chapter 27

 

A couple of days later, Doyeon and Yoojung came back while the others were getting ready to go to dance practice.

 

"Unnies!" Lucy cried, running up and taking their luggage from them and carrying it back to their room.

 

As soon as Doyeon and Yoojung saw Suyeon, they started singing "Bingle Bangle."

 

Suyeon buried her face in her hands. "You guys watched that?"

 

Doyeon threw her arm around Suyeon's shoulders. "You think we'd miss it? The only thing that would've been better is if we could've been there with you!"

 

Just then Yoojung saw Sei coming out of her bedroom. "Bang bang bang!" she called out.

 

Blushing, Sei bowed to Yoojung and then mimed drinking a shot. "We missed you guys so much! How was the video shoot?"

 

"Great!" Doyeon said. "I think you're really going to like it."

 

"When does it come out?" Elly asked.

 

"They wouldn't tell us for sure," Yoojung said, "but probably around 3 weeks."

 

By this time Lucy was back. "Three weeks? I have to wait 3 weeks to see my unnies in their new video? Waaah." She put her fists to her eyes and mimed crying.

 

"All night, enough silliness," Lua said, coming up behind Lucy and catching her in a back hug. "We've got to roll for today's ships and then get to dance lessons. You know we'll get in trouble if we're late!"

 

"Whoa!" Doyeon said, keeping her arm around Suyeon. "Lucy being helping and respectful to her unnies, Lua being responsible - we should go away and come back more often."

 

"Oh no you don't," Suyeon said, hugging Doyeon, "next it's my turn to go away and come back!"

 

"Oh no you don't!" Sei said, grabbing on to Suyeon. "If you get to go away, I get to go with you!"

 

Suyeon leaned over and kiss Sei on the nose. "How could I possibly say no to that?"

 

"You'd better not even try," Sei said, seizing Suyeon tighter.

 

"Whoa! Somebody's getting possessive!" Doyeon said.

 

"No," Sei said, pouting, "someone's just feeling neglected because she never gets to spend time alone with her girlfriend." She look up at Suyeon. "I want to take you out for pizza tonight, just the two of us."

 

Suyeon pretended to think about this, before saying "Of course! We'll go after dance class."

 

"Speaking of which," Yoojung said, loudly enough to cut across everyone's conversations, "I've rolled up today's ships. It's going to be me and Sei, Suyeon and Lua, Elly and Lucy, and Rina and Doyeon. Now we'd better get going if we're not going to be late for dance class."

 

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

 

Danc class went better now that Doyeon and Yoojung were back - it was better to have all 8 members there than to have 6 and pretend there were 8. Rina got caught out of place a couple of times because she kept getting distracted trying to watch Elly, but mostly the class went well. After dance class was over, the group split up - the younger four had more classes to go to, while the older four got the afternoon off. Well, off in the sense that Doyeon and Yoojung had to do a Vlive, and they all had to spend a couple of hours answering fanmail. But mostly off.

 

"Do I need to get dressed up fancy?" Suyeon asked Sei. "Or will regular clothes do?"

 

"Regular clothes will do. I was just planning on Pizza Mario. Of course," she batted her eyes and turned on the aegyo, "if you really want to make me happy you'll wear your black jeans - I love the way you look in those."

 

"Your wish is my command," Suyeon said, bowing to Sei.

 

"Don't say that unless you really mean it," the younger girl responded.

 

By this time everyone had gathered up all of their stuff, so the maknaes headed off to their class and the unnies headed back to the apartment. As Doyeon and Yoojung got started on their Vlive, Suyeon and Elly got started on the fanmail. Most of the letters were routine - expressions of adoration, requests for autographs or photos, that sort of thing. But once in a while they'd come across a letter that needed actual thought and a personal answer - fans who apparently couldn't think of anywhere to turn with their problems other than their favorite band. They had a list of hotlines for any fan who seemed like they needed that, plus a stock of answers they'd settled on to some of the more common questions. But from time to time they'd still get a letter that they had a hart time figuring out what to do with. Suyeon's first letter was one of those.

 

"Oh, jeez," she said, "listen to this:

 

>  
> 
> Dear Weki Meki,
> 
>  
> 
> My name is Ji-Min and I'm in grade 8. All the other girls in my grade want boyfriends, but I want a girlfriend. The other girls don't really tease me much about it, which is nice, but I'm still lonely because I'm the only girl here like me, so there's no one to be my girlfriend. With as many idols as there are, surely there are some of them who are gay. It'd be nice if they could say so in public. You probably aren't allowed to answer this, but are any of the members of Weki Meki gay? I like to imagine that Lucy is and that I'm her secret girlfriend. I'm sending you a picture I drew of me and Lucy going to my school's spring dance together. I hope you like it. Don't worry, I'm not a sasaeng. I just needed someone to talk to and you all look like you'd be so nice to have as friends.
> 
>  
> 
> Your fan,
> 
> Ji-Min
> 
>  
> 
> PS Are we going to get a fandom name and a lightstick soon?"

 

Juyeon's eyes were glistening as she finished reading the letter. "I wish we could be out to our fans. I bet Lucy would love to go to the spring dance with Lucy. Look at the picture she drew - this girl is talented. We need to find a way to encourage her."

 

Elly took the picture from Suyeon. It showed a girl in a green dress who must be Ji-Min, standing next to a taller girl in a tuxedo who was very obviously Lucy. Suyeon was right - this girl was a talented artist.

 

"There might be something we can do," Elly said. "We'd have to get the whole group to agree to it, and then we'd have to get Manager-nim to agree to it - and she might even have to run it by her boss - but we put out a statement saying something like 'Weki Meki loves and supports all of our fans, whether you're a boy or a girl, gay or straight, Korean or international' . . . you know, a generic message of appreciation to the fans that includes a statement of solidarity with the LGBT communities, but mixed in with a lot of other stuff so it doesn't scare management."

 

"That's a good idea," Suyeon said, setting the letter and the drawing aside to talk about with the members later. "And who knows, maybe we can find a way for Lucy to go to the spring dance with J-Min, just as a friend."

 

"That idea really scares me," Elly said, "the idea of the whole group's reputation depending on Lucy not getting out of bounds?" She shuddered.

 

"I don't know about that. I think Lucy's a much better member than we all give her credit for. Look at how she stepped up when I got into Yoojung's brownies." Suyeon blushed and suddenly made a show of being very interested in the next letter.

 

Elly thought for a minute. "You could be right," she said. "We'll to see what the other unnies think before we suggest it to all the members."

 

Doyeon and Yoojung happened to enter the room right then, having just finished their Vlive. "What the other unnies think about what?" Doyeon asked.

 

Suyeon handed Ji-Min's letter drawing to Yoojung, who read it while Doyeon looked over her shoulder. When they finished, Yoojung looked up. "You're not suggeting sending Lucy to the spring dance, are you?"

 

Suyeon nodded. "Actually we were, after we put out a generic statement of support for all our fans that includes a statement of solidarity with the LGBT fans."

 

Yoojung shook her head. "You can't be serious. If it was any other member, and I'd sure, as long as Manager-nim agrees. But Lucy?" Yoojung handed Ji-Min's letter back to Suyeon, then sat down to help with the fanmail.

 

Doyeon sat down next to her and grabbed a stack of letter. "I disagree," she said, starting to sort the letters into piles by type, "Remember how well Lucy did at the last round of radio interviews? I think she's a lot smarter and more mature than you're giving her credit for."

 

They were no closer to reaching an agreement when they packed up the fanmail just before the maknaes came home. They agreed to keep thinking about the idea and to have an unnies' meeting the next day to reach a final decision.

 

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

 

When Suyeon and Sei left to go to Pizza Mario, Sei said "Let's take the long way, through the park."

 

Suyeon looked at her in surprise. "I'd figure you'd be hungry and want to get there as soon as possible."

 

"I'm starving," Sei responded, as her stomach rumbled its agreement, "but since I've got you all to myself right now, I want to get as much time with you as I can."

 

"Tell you what," Suyeon said, taking Sei's hand in hers, "how about we go directly to Pizza Mario so you don't faint from hunger, then afterward we'll go to the arcade, and then stop for an ice cream, and then take the long way back through the park."

 

Sei interlaced her fingers with Suyeon's and clasped their hands tighter together. "That sounds great."

 

They were both wearing hoodies, baseball caps, and sunglasses, which would at least be enough to keep them from being casually recognized - nothing was going to keep off a really determined fan, but at least they could try to get a little bit of privacy. They got to Pizza Mario before the evening rush hit, and they were able to get a booth toward the back of the restaurant. They slid in next to each other on the same side of the booth and started looking at a menu. They decided on a pepperoni pizza and colas to drink.

 

"We'll have to go running tomorrow to burn it off," Sei said, "especially if we stop for ice cream later, but it'll be worth it."

 

Suyeon nodded her enthusiastic agreement. Taking Sei's hand under the table she asked "Is something wrong? Have I been neglecting you?"

 

Sei shrugged. "Not exactly neglecting," she said, "but you know how Lucy can soak up all the attention in a room? I feel kind of like she's doing that, so the rest of us have to be careful and be sure to spend time together without her. And I woke up this morning and really wanted to have you to myself for a while."

 

Suyeon squeezed Sei's hand. "I can understand that. Let me ask you one quick question and then I won't mention Lucy again the rest of the night. How do you think it would be if, as a special treat for a lucky fan, Lucy went with them to their school's spring dance."

 

"I think she'd love that," Sei said. "There'd be all kind of photographers there wanting pictures of them, and I'm sure he'd shower her with all kinds of attention."

 

Suyeon took this in, nodding. "What if the fan was a girl?"

 

"Are you crazy?" Sei's voice didn't get any louder, but she somehow gave the impression of screaming. "Do you really think Lucy will be able to go on a date with a girl and stay in the closet? That would be a disaster just waiting to happen!"

 

Suyeon quickly told Sei about Ji-Min's letter. Sei kept shaking her head. "If it was any of the other members, I'd say sure, let's go for it. But I don't think it's safe putting Lucy in a position like that."

 

Suyeon thought for a moment. "What if one of the unnies went with her? Sort of as a chaperone?"

 

Sei lifted an eyebrow. "That might help. Or it might hurt - two members of Weki Meki at a school dance means twice as many cameras." Sei made a motion as if she was pushing the whole idea away from her. "I've told you how I feel, now I'll go along with whatever the unnies decide."

 

"Okay," Suyeon said, as the waitress brought their colas. "And your Lucy-free evening begins now."


	28. Chapter 28

Suyeon's phone rang. She rushed to fish it out of her pocket, elbowing Lua in the ribs in the process. She didn't know who it could possibly be - all her members were here watching "My Robot Girlfriend" and Manager-nim had just left half an hour ago and had no reason to call. Her parents never called this late, so she was afraid there was an emergency. It was with a sense of relief when she got the phone out of her pocket and saw that it was Manager-nim. She jumped up and ran in her room and shut the door before she swiped the screen to answer.

"Hello Suyeon! I've got some good news for you!" Manager-nim sounded extraordinarily happy, this must be very good news. Suyeon paced around the room as Manager-nim gave her the news - Weki Meki now had a fanclub name and official colors!

"That's amazing news!" Suyeon said. "It actually ties in to something the members and I were talking about the other night: We wanted to do a Vlive expressing support for all our fans. You know, something like 'Whether you're a boy or a girl, gay or straight, Korean or international. . . whatever you might be, Weki Meki supports you and you should support each other.' Maybe we could do that in conjunction with announcing the fandom name?"

"I see what you did there," Manager-nim said. "I can't make any promises - I have to see what the big bosses say - but if you record your message and send it to me, I'll see what I can do, and release it to the fans if I get clearance. But you've got to be ready to record a different version without that particular message." - Suyeon wondered how many more ways Manager-nim could come up with to keep from saying "gay" or "LGBT" - "Do we have an understanding?"

"Yes Manager-nim! Thank you Manager-nim! I've got to go tell the members about this great news! Bye!"

Suyeon ran out of her room, slapped off the TV, and stood in front of her members. Before they had a chance to protest her turning off the show, she started squealing excitedly. "Aieeee! Everyone! We've got a fandom name and official colors!"

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

The video opened with Suyeon in the middle of the screen, surrounded by her members.

"Annyeong, everyone!" Suyeon began, her smile lighting up her face. "Recently we got a letter from a fan named Ji-Min. She had a lot of really nice things to say, but she also asked 'When are we going to get a fandom name and official colors?'. I told her that as soon as we knew, we'd let you know. And now we know! Our fandom name is: Ki-Ling!" All the members joined in to say the fandom name with her.

"That's 'Ki' as in Weki Meki and 'ling' as in darling. The Ki-Lings are the people who love Weki Meki, and who Weki Meki love. It's also a play on 'keyring' - we're the keys and you're the rings that hold us together."

"And our official colors are..."

Sei rushed in from one side, wearing a bright red shirt, calling out "Cherry tomato!"

"and..."

Lucy rushed in from the other side in a bright yellow shirt. "Vibrant yellow!"

Suyeon put her arms around Lucy and Sei's shoulders. "So we just wanted to say, to all the Ki-Lings: Thank you for supporting us, and whether you're a boy or a girl, gay or straight, athletic or clumsy, Korean or international, we support you and we hope that you will support each other."

Suyeon counted quietly "1... 2... 3..." and then the members all yelled as one "Fighting!" Then Sei reached forward and shut off the camera.

"Yay!" Yoojung yelled, clapping. "We got it on the first take! Now send it to Manager-nim so we can get her seal of approval and release it to the fans!"

"How could she possibly not approve it?" Rina asked. "It's such a simple, positive message, and I don't think it's at all controversial."

"You don't think so," Doyeon said, "but you're not a grumpy old man like the big bosses. If they think there's any chance this message will cause drama that will cost the company money, they'll reject it just like that." She snapped her fingers.

"Well," Rina went on, "I hope they don't reject it."

"Say," Lucy said, "who was this Ji-Min that we got a letter from? I don't remember anyone telling me about her."

"You didn't get to see?" Lua piped up excitedly. "She's in grade 8 and she sent us a letter with this awesome picture she drew. I'll go get it." And just like that, Lua was gone, so quickly that she didn't see Suyeon standing behind Lucy, frantically shaking her head and mouthing the word "no!"

In practically no time Lua was back, putting the drawing in Lucy's hands. "Here - check it out!"

Lucy looked down at the picture. Her eyes got huge and a smile spread across her face. "That's me! She drew a picture of me!" Noticing the banner behind the two figures in the drawing. "She wants me to take her to her school's spring dance?" A devious gleam came into Lucy's eyes. "You know what would be awesome? If I actually did take her to the dance! What do you think? Can we make that happen?"

Suyeon clicked "send" on the computer and turned around. "No, we can't."

Lucy's face fell. "Just like that? Just 'no'? Aren't we even gonna talk about it?"

Suyeon shook her head. "The unnies all talked about it when Ji-Min's letter came in. We don't think Manager-nim would approve it, and even if she did, the chance of accidentally outing ourselves is too high."

"But don't you think-" Lucy stopped herself in mid-sentence as a look of realization spread over her face. "It's because it's me! Isn't it? If she had wanted to go to a dance with any other member, you wouldn't have had a problem with it, but because it's me. . . You don't even have to answer - I can see in your face that I'm right. Yeah, Weki Meki supports you, no matter who you are, except Lucy. Lucy's the baby and apparently can't be trusted to handle anything important. Do you honestly think I don't know how important this is? I've got just as much to lose as the rest of you if we don't all stay firmly in the closet. I just-" Lucy could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, about to spill over. Not wanting to cry in front of everyone else, she ran into her room and slammed the door behind herself.

Suyeon slouched against the computer desk. "Well, that could have gone better." Pushing off the edge of the desk, she started heading toward Lucy's room. "I'd better go talk to her."

Elly grabbed Suyeon's arm and stopped her. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you're the best one to talk to her about this. You're the one who just gave her the bad news, on top of which you're the leader. Anything you say, she'll take it as an attack and her only thought will be how to counter it."

Suyeon sighed. "So who do you suggest should talk to her? Because someone's got to."

"Yoojung," Elly said decisively

"Yoojung?" Suyoen asked, at the same time that Yoojung squeaked "Me?"

Elly nodded. "In Lucy's eyes, Yoojung is the smartest of all the unnies, so anything Yoojung says, Lucy will take it seriously."

Suyeon stopped and thought for a moment. She still felt like it was her responsibility to talk to Lucy, but she agreed with Elly that Yoojung was more likely to get a positive response. She looked at Yoojung. "How 'bout it, Udon? Will you go talk to her?"

Yoojung nodded nervously. "S-sure. I can do that."

The others all watched hesitantly as Yoojung knocked on Lucy's door and Lucy let her in.

"What they need," Doyeon said, "is one of Yoojung's brownies."

For once, Suyeon didn't disagree with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so funny that when I wrote chapter 27 we had no idea when we'd be getting a fandom name and official colors, and then right after I wrote talking about that, we got them, seemingly out of nowhere.


	29. Chapter 29

Lucy sat down on her bed, grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her, sniffling quietly. "Hi unnie. Sorry I ran away out there - I just didn't want to cry in front of everyone - in front of Suyeon."

Yoojung sat down and faced toward her. "How's it going? - Oh, that's stupid - forget I said that. I just..."

She stopped. Lucy looked at her, not used to seeing Yoojung at a loss for words. "Unnie?"

Yoojung wrapped her arms around herself and rocked back and forth. "Oh Lucy. . . I'm so sorry. . ."

"What do you mean?"

Yoojung stopped rocking and looked into Lucy's eyes. "You were right out there. If it had been anybody but you, we'd all be in favor of it. I even said that very thing when Suyeon told me about the letter. Suyeon originally wanted to let you go, but Elly and I talked her out of it. But you're right, it wasn't fair. I wasn't fair."

Lucy stared at Yoojung, stunned, not used to seeing her unnie open up like this.

Yoojung took a deep breath and went on. "And now the others have sent me in here to calm you down and make you okay with our decision, but the more I thought about it, the less I'm okay with our decision." Yoojung sat up a little straighter, looking more like the Yoojung Lucy was used to seeing. "I think we should go back out there and change their minds. You're right, and I've got your back."

Lucy tried to blink back the tears, but they overflowed her eyes and ran down her face. She held out her arms to Yoojung for a hug. Yoojung, not used to being the unnie that the maknaes came to with their problems, slid closer to Lucy and hugged her, awkwardly patting her on the back. For several long minutes Lucy's body was wracked with sobs. Eventually she was finally able to speak again. "I don't know why you didn't trust me at first unnie, and I don't know why you changed your mind. I just know I really want to do this, so I can make that fan happy and I can prove to everyone that I'm not a screw-up."

Yoojung reached over to Lucy's bedside table and grabbed some Kleenex, which she handed to Lucy. She then hugged Lucy tighter as she wiped her face and dried her eyes. "We can do this." Yoojung said. She stood up and held out her hand to Lucy. Hand-in-hand, they marched out to confront their members.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Several hours later, everyone was still arguing. Lucy, Yoojung, and Doyeon were on one side. Suyeon, Sei, and Elly were on the other. Rina was with Elly, because in her mind being loyal to Elly was her highest loyalty. And poor Lua was in the middle, not knowing which way she should go. In fact, no one noticed Lua slip away until Sei heard the sound of quiet crying coming from her room.

Sei walked into the room that she shared with Lua. Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw Lua lying on her bed, crying into her pillow. She sat down next to her and gently rubbed her back. "Hey sweetie," she said. "Want to talk about it."

Lua rolled over and looked up at Sei, her face a mess from crying. "I hate this," she hissed. "It sucks and I hate it. I love you and Suyeon and Lucy, and I hate seeing you fight like this."

Sei lay down next to Lua, spooning up against her. "It's gonna be okay," she said, in as reassuring a tone as she could manage. "This will all get settled one way or the other, and everyone will be okay."

Lua sniffled. "It doesn't feel like everything's going to be okay. I feel like I'm being torn apart."

Sei hugged her tighter. "But you know? If we walked back in the other room and yelled 'Raise your hand if you care about Lucy!', everyone would raise their hands. And if we yelled 'Raise your hand if you're trying to do what's best for Weki Meki!', everyone would raise their hands."

Lua chuckled grimly. "They can't all be right."

Sei laughed along with Lua. "No, they can't. But they all think they are. Nobody made their decision because they don't care about Lucy, and nobody made their decision because they don't care about Weki M--"

Sei was cut off by Rina running into the room. "You need to get out here! Your girlfriends are going way over the line and you need to try to calm them down."

Sei and Lua rushed out after Rina, just in time to hear Lucy say "Yeah? Well I'm not the one who got stoned off my ass and had to be babysat by a group of maknaes."

Suyeon probably would have slapped Lisa at this point, if Elly hadn't been holding her back. Finally her face went slack, she took a deep breath, exhaled, and said "Do whatever you want. And while you're at it, find someone else to be the leader. I'm done fighting." With that, she turned and walked into her room, the silence she left behind so complete that they all could hear the door click shut.

The others all stood there staring at Lucy, and as they did, they could see the moment when she realized exactly what she had done, because that recognition was written on her face. "I've got to go to talk to her. I've got to apologize." She started to rush off after Suyeon, only to discover that Yoojung was holding her back.

"Not right this minute," Yoojung said. "You've got to give her a chance to calm down some first."

Lucy looked down at Yoojung, her face a mask of confusion and fear. "What are we going to do?"

Yoojung thought for a moment, then nodded decisively and began laying out her plan. "We - by which I mean everyone except you, Lucy - are going to leave the apartment, go to the park, the arcade, the coffee shop, wherever, so long as we stay gone for at least 2 hours. Lucy, you're going to sit on the couch by Suyeon's door and you're going to wait there patiently for her to calm down and come out."

"What do I do then? What do I say?" At that moment, Lucy looked every inch a maknae who was in need of an unnie's guidance.

"You'll figure it out," Yoojung said, "I've got faith in you. Just stay calm. If she attacks you, don't attack back. Remember: No matter how upset either one of you gets, you love this girl. Make sure you show that."

And with that parting bit of advice, all the members came up one at a time and each gave Lucy a hug, then left the apartment. When she found herself alone in the room, Lucy went and sat down on the couch, facing Suyeon's door. She crossed her legs, sighed, and settled in to wait.


	30. Chapter 30

Lua and Sei walked down the block to the coffee shop and got strawberry frappes. They sat at one of the outside tables so they could watch people go by as they drank their drinks.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Lua asked.

Sei looked at her. "What? You usually love getting a strawberry frappe."

Lua reached over and ruffled Sei's hair. "Not that, silly. Leaving Lucy and Suyeon alone."

Sei took a sip of her drink. "You mean the Unnie-est Unnie versus the Littlest Maknae in a special no-holds-barred cage match without a referee?"

Lua nodded. "Something like that. What if we get back and they haven't worked it out? What if things have gotten worse?"

Sei looked around at all the couples walking up and down the street. "Well, for one thing, OT4 would be off the table. That would be pretty much the worst - to have 3 girlfriends and 2 of them can't get along."

Lua stopped to think for a moment. "If we do split up the foursome, I think you and I should be a couple. No reason you and I should be alone just because Lucy and Suyeon can't get along."

Sei looked at her critically. "Are you sure you're not just scared of being single again?"

Lua shook her head. "No, it's not like that. I feel like you and I have gotten a lot closer recently, and I really like you. Like, really really like."

Sei laughed. "You always did have a way with words." She looked thoughtful for a moment, then continued. "I think it's a good idea - I'm surprised you and I had never dated before this - I just wanted to be sure I wasn't your security blank."

Lua shook her head. "No, it's not like that at all. I'm sure if the foursome blew up, Lucy and I could go back to being a couple, but if she and Suyeon blow the foursome up, I'd rather be with you. I hope I never have to make the choice, but if I do, that's what I would want to choose."

Sei reached over and pulled Lua into a side hug. "That sounds good. But hopefully it won't come to that - hopefully our girlfriends are working things out and everything will be okay."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Lucy sat on the couch, watching the door and waiting for Suyeon to come out. After what seemed like forever, the door opened. Suyeon came out and looked around. Her eyes were red from where she'd obviously been crying.

"Where is everybody?" she asked.

"They're all out and about," Lucy said. "Yoojung decided they all should go out and let you and me have the apartment to talk."

Suyeon nodded thoughtfully. "I'm feeling calmer now. How about you?"

Lucy nodded. "You're not mad at me, unnie?"

"I didn't say that," Suyeon said, "I just said I was calmer."

Lucy wrapped her arms around herself and squished down into a corner of the couch. "I'm not trying to cause problems, unnie," she said in a small voice. "I just don't think you're being fair."

Suyeon flopped down onto the couch, noticing that as she did so, Lucy squished herself into the smallest possible package and scooted away from her. "Okay, let's start there," Suyeon said. "I'm sorry I lost my temper and was about to slap you."

Lucy looked up at Suyeon, her eyes glistening. "You really scared me, unnie."

Suyeon slumped down. "I should never have lost control like that. I'm so sorry."

Lucy tentatively reached out and put her hand in Suyeon's, interlacing their fingers together. "Please promise me you'll never do that again."

Suyeon nodded. "I promise."

"Now," Lucy said, "we need to talk about Ji-Min and the spring dance."

Suyeon sighed. "You really want to go, don't you?"

Lucy nodded. "I missed a lot of school experiences because I was a trainee, and now I'm going to miss the rest of them because of Weki Meki. I wouldn't give any of that up for anything, but I still sometimes wonder. You know?"

Suyeon nodded. "That makes sense. I just . . . I worry. What if you accidentally say something and out yourself, or out one of the rest of us, or . . ."

Lucy squeezed Suyeon's hand to get her attention. "We manage to keep all that a secret from the Korean news media - who'd love nothing more than to have a juicy scandal on their hands - while doing interviews and press events every day. Do you really think I can't handle a bunch of eighth graders without getting into trouble."

"We'll have to get Manager-nim's approval," Suyeon said, "and you know she won't approve."

"I can handle it if Manager-nim says no," Lucy said, "I won't like it, but I can handle it. What I can't handle is discovering that four of my bandmates - including two of my girlfriends - don't have faith in me being able to handle the situation."

Suyeon looked over at Lucy. "So, after all that, I'm still your girlfriend?"

Lucy looked back at her. "Do you still want to be?"

Suyeon nodded, suddenly at a loss for words. She and Lucy leaned toward each other and started to kiss. They suddenly heard voices coming from behind them.

"Hey! What did you two decide about-"

"See? I told you we were coming back too soon."

"Uh, yeah. We're just leaving. See you later."

After they heard the door shut, they finally broke their kiss.

"Well," Lucy said, blushing, "apparently Rina and Elly weren't expecting that!" She started to laugh.

"Neither was I," Suyeon said, laughing along with her. After several moments of laughter, Suyeon struggled to put on a serious face. "OK, so you've won me over. I'll help you convince the others we should ask Manager-nim about this. But I've got one condition."

"What's that?" Lucy asked, doing her best not to look triumphant.

"I know Ji-Min drew you in a tuxedo, but if you go to the dance with her, I want you to wear a dress."

"I don't get to wear a tuxedo?" Lucy pouted.

"Not for her," Suyeon said, leaning in for another kiss.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Yoojung and Doyeon had gone to the arcade. They spent the afternoon playing skee-ball and Pop-A-Shot basketball, trying to win enough tickets to buy the giant stuffed white tiger behind the register.

"What are we going to do with a giant stuffed white tiger if we do win it?" Yoojung asked.

"That's not just a white tiger," Doyeon said. "That's Soohorang, the Pyeongchang Olympics mascot."

"I see, Yoojung said, smiling knowingly. "So it's not just for the stuffed animal. It's more Olympics geekery."

"Don't sound so surprised. You know I'm a big Olympics geek," Doyeon said, sliding another 500-won coin into the skee-ball machine.

"So, what do you think Suyeon and Lucy are up to now?" Yoojung asked, between turns.

Doyeon checked the time on her phone. "By now they're probably sitting on the couch making out."

Just then, Rina and Elly walked up.

"Hey, mind if we join you? It's still too soon to go back to the apartment." Rina started digging around in her purse for coins.

"The more the merrier," Yoojung said. "You can help my Olympics-crazy girlfriend win 50 thousand tickets for a stuffed tiger."

"I think we're getting close," Doyeon said, gathering up the strand of tickets that the skee-ball machine had just spit out. "Anyway, what makes you say it's too soon to go back to the apartment?"

"We just tried to go back," Elly said, "but Suyeon and Lucy were sitting on the couch making out."

Doyeon gave Yoojung a knowing smile, which caused Yoojung to respond "Yes, you were right. Now, who do you think was the one to change their mind?"

Doyeon snorted dismissively. "Suyeon, of course. Now that she's calmed down, do you really thing she'll be able to tell Lucy no?"

Yoojung smirked. "You sure about that?"

Doyeon nodded. "Absolutely."

"Okay then," Yoojung said, "let's get our tickets counted, go find Sei and Lua, and head back to the apartment."

"Unless we're really, really close to 50 thousand," Doyeon said, "then we'll have to stay here a little bit longer." She started helping Yoojung gather up the armloads of tickets.


	31. Chapter 31

Suyeon was sure of it: The maknaes were up to something. All week long, she'd see them, clustered together talking excitedly about something, then falling silent as soon as an unnie got within earshot. Until late in the night - long after everyone was supposed to be asleep, she'd hear the sounds of people quietly padding back and forth between the maknaes' bedrooms. And whatever they were planning, it was about to reach its dramatic conclusion, whatever that might be.

The unnies had just come in from a game of basketball - Suyeon and Yoojung against Doyeon and Elly - expecting to find Lua busily cooking dinner. Instead, they came in to find 4 bowls of instant ramen on the table with a note.

Suyeon picked up the note and started reading it aloud. "Dear unnies, Please don't be mad that there's no dinner. When you see why, you'll understand. I got your favorite flavors of ramen for you. Heart - heart - heart, Lua."

"There's more on the back," Doyeon said helpfully.

Suyeon flipped the paper over. "P.S. Tomorrow night, instead of Rina making kim chi fried rice, Sei and I will fix us all a special dinner."

The unnies spread out the stack of ramen bowls: Two kim chi, one tonkatsu, and one spicy shrimp. Lua had indeed gotten everyone's favorite flavor. But that still didn't answer the question of where the maknaes were and what they were up to.

Yoojung and Doyeon decided they'd rather go out for fried chicken, so they quickly got showered and changed and left. Elly said she needed to make some phone calls, so she showered, put on her pajamas, and curled up on her bed with her phone. After getting her shower, Suyeon cooked one of the bowls of kim chi ramen, then sat down in front of the TV to watch Momo Bookstore.

"So this is how it is," she said to herself. "No girlfriend? Spend Friday night eating ramen and watching TV. Three girlfriends? Spend Friday night eating ramen and watching TV. Apparently some things never change."

The show and the ramen were both coming to an end when Suyeon heard someone coming in to the apartment. She hadn't even had time to turn around and see who it was when Sei and Lua were already right there, dragging her off the couch and into their bedroom.

"What . . . what's going on?" Suyeon asked.

"We've got to do a makeover on you, and we've got to do it kind of quickly." Sei ripped open a face cleansing wipe and started wiping down Suyeon's face.

"What? That doesn't answer my question! That just gives me more questions!"

Lua laughed. "Be patient. You'll see." She grabbed a brush and started brushing Suyeon's hair while Sei started applying foundation to her face. As Sei started in on her eye makeup, Suyeon could feel Lua pulling her hair into some sort of updo. Lua finished doing her hair just as Sei finished with her lips.

"No stay right," Sei said. Suyeon turned to look at herself in the mirror.

"No peeking!" Sei turned Suyeon away from the mirror and then stood in front of her to make sure she didn't try to peek. "Lua, go get her dress, quickly!"

While Lua was out of the room, Suyeon concentrated her attention on Sei. "Can you tell me now what's going on? Can you at least give me a hint? Please?"

Sei just laughed at her. "You forget that I'm immune to aegyo. Besides, you'll see soon enough what's going on."

Just then Lua came running back into the room. Suyeon turned and saw that she was carrying a beautiful hanbok, red with gold embroidery. She gasped and her mouth fell open. "It's beautiful!" she cried.

"It's a rental, so be sure not to spill anything on it." Leave it to Lua to remember the practical points at a time like this.

They started quickly stripping Suyeon out of her clothes and dressing her in the hanbok. When they were finished, Sei reached under her bed and pulled out a shoebox. Inside was a pair of shiny black stilleto heels.

"You have no idea how hard it was to keep these a secret - I've been wanting to see you in them since they arrived." Sei knelt in front of Suyeon and fastened the shoes on her feet. Suyeon wobbled for a moment, but soon got used to the new shoes.

"I'm not used to wearing heels this high," Suyeon said. She looked around, noticing how things looked different from this vantage point. "This must be what it's like to be Lucy." She looked down at Sei. "Where is Lucy? She'd want to see me in this-"

Just then there was a knock at the door. Lucy's voice came from outside, "Is she ready? The van is here."

Sei opened the door to let Lucy in. Suyeon gasped - Lucy was wearing a tuxedo! A black tailcoat framed a white shirt and a red and gold tie and cummerbund set to match her hanbok. Suyeon looked her up and down - from her shiny black patent leather oxfords to her top hat perched atop her head, Lucy looked splendid. Suyeon was torn between wanting to show her off and not wanting to share her with anyone.

Lua stood behind Suyeon and gently pushed her toward Lucy. "You've got all evening to gawk at your date. Right now there's a van waiting for you downstairs."

"V-v-van?" Suyeon kept getting more and more confused. "Where are we going? Dressed like this?" She looked to Lucy for answers.

Lucy smiled at her. "Tonight, it is my honor to escort you to the Gangnam Techno Hanbok Ball." She took a step forward and took Suyeon's hand. "Let's go - I'll explain on the way!"

Smiling widely, Suyeon waved goodbye to Lua and Sei, then grabbed on to Lucy's arm and let Lucy lead her down to the van. After helping Suyeon get in and get her skirts arranged, Lucy climbed and sat down beside her. The driver closed the door and started driving, having obviously been briefed on where they were going.

Suyeon turned to Lucy. "So . . . the Gangnam Techno Hanbok Ball?"

Lucy nodded excitedly. "I remembered how excited you were by the prospect of seeing me in a tuxedo, so I started looking for an event I could wear a tuxedo to. MJ - you know, Astro's MJ? - told me about the ball and it seemed like the perfect event. I got the other maknaes to help set this up, and even Elly helped - we needed someone 20 or older to order the van."

"But . . ." Suyeon shook her head, trying to take it all in. "Won't we get in trouble? We're not supposed to go so far from the dorm without a manager."

Lucy laughed. "No need to worry - half the people at the ball are idols violating their no-dating clauses and the other half are rich kids spending daddy's money. No one wants to get caught being there. The ball is one of the most closely guarded secrets in Gangnam - if MJ hadn't known a guy who knows a guy, I never would have been able to get us tickets."

"Oh, Lucy!" Suyeon said, "I don't know how you pulled this off, but I'm glad you did."

Just then the driver's cleared his throat to get their attention. "Ladies, we're here." The van's side door open, revealing an awning with walls that would keep them covered from the time they left the van to the time they entered the club. "Just text me when you're ready to go home."

Lucy helped Suyeon out of the van. Arm in arm, they walked up the carpet to the door, where Lucy presented their tickets to an imposing giant of a doorman, who opened the door and admitted them to a wonderland of sound and color.


	32. Chapter 32

Suyeon and Lucy sneaked into their apartment at just past 2 in the morning, and were surprised to discover that all their members had waited up for them.

Sei was the first to see them. She jumped up and called out "Tell us everything! How was it?"

"It was great," Suyeon said. "We had such a wonderful time. And now I want us to wear hanbok in one of our videos - it's so much fun to dance in!"

"It was a nightmare," Lucy said. "Every time I looked away from Suyeon for a second, there'd be some guy there hitting on her."

Lua poked Lucy in the ribs. "Then you shouldn't have been looking away from Suyeon!"

Suyeon leaned over and kissed Lucy on the cheek. "And besides, it's not like you had any real competition!"

Whatever Lucy had been about to say, it was drowned out by Lua saying "Oh, Suyeon! You're feet have got to be killing you!" She shooed Rina and Elly out of Suyeon's favorite ugly recliner, then sat Suyeon down in it. Rina and Elly flopped down in the beanbag and carried on kissing as if they hadn't been interrupted. Sei and Lua sat down on the arms of Suyeon's recliner, flanking her like a queen's ladies in waiting. Lucy sat down on the couch next to Yoojung and Doyeon; she took off her top hat and carefully placed it on the table coffee table.

"The ball was amazing," Suyeon said. "All the women were in hanbok and all the men were in tuxedos. They had 4 DJs playing at once - which one you were hearing would change as you moved around the room. And the light shows were spectacular - I wish we could have light shows like that at our concerts!"

"It must have been great," Yoojung said. "I can't remember ever seeing you this excited about anything."

Suyeon went on - with occasional interjections from Lucy - to tell them everything about the ball: What DJs they danced to, what songs they heard, who they saw that they recognized (or thought they recognized), about the two guys who tried to buy them a bottle of vodka, and so on. After about 40 minutes of this, Sei said "Okay - time to put our party girls to bed so they won't be too tired out tomorrow."

Lau led Suyeon off one way, while Sei started leading Lucy off in the other direction. The others would talk about it later, and they couldn't decide if Lua and Sei had developed a psychic link or they had a secret language that none of the rest of them could hear, or what, but somehow they synchonized bedtime - including use of the shower and the mirror - so that no one was ever just standing around waiting, all without talking about it.

After Suyeon had told everyone good night, Lua led her to her room. She tucked Suyeon into her bed, then laid out the hanbok over the back of a chair.

Lua bent down and kissed Suyeon goodnight and asked "Do you want someone to cuddle, or do you want to sleep alone?"

Suyeon scooted over to the edge of the bed and held up the blanket so Lua could get in. "I never want to sleep alone if I can help it," she said. The two wrapped their arms around each other and were both aslee within a matter of minutes.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

After Lucy had gotten her shower and taken her makeup off, Sei led her to her bed, then started hanging up all the parts of the tuxedo so they could return it.

After a couple of minutes, Lucy asked "Sei, are you mad at me?"

Sei finished hanging up the tuxedo jacket and then came and sat on the edge of Lucy's bed. "No. Why would I be?"

"Because I did such a big thing for Suyeon," Lucy said with a yawn, "and now I don't have the time or money to do something like that for you."

Sei lay down next to Lucy. Lucy rearranged the duvet so that it was covering both of them. "Tomorrow afternoon," she said, "do you think you could come up with half an hour to do something that costs zero thousand won?"

"Ye-es," Lucy said hesitantly, unsure where Sei was going with this.

Sei nodded. "Then tomorrow afternoon you can take me for a walk in the park."

"But-" Lucy protested. "That's just - I mean - it's only -"

Sei placed her finger across Lucy's lips, silencing her. "Right now Suyeon needed something big like that, and someday I might need something big like that, but right now all I need is a little of your time and a little bit of your attention."

Lucy wrapped her arms around Sei, hugging her tightly. "You're so awesome! I love you!"

Sei returned the hug as well as she was able from within Lucy's arms. "I love you! You're awesome. I should have told you that so many times before. I figured you knew how much I appreciated you, so there was no need to say it."

Lucy grumbled, quirking her mouth to the side. "Lua's got a big mouth."

"Yes, Lua did tell me what you'd said about me," Sei with a laugh. "But I'd like to think I would have figured it out on my own sooner or later."

"You probably would have," Lucy admitted, "but 'sooner or later' might have been to late."

"I'm so sorry I made you feel unwanted or not good enough," Sei said, placing several kisses scattered around Lucy's face.

"You're forgiven," Lucy said, "but don't let it happen again." Her attempt at sternness was totally spoiled when a huge yawn overtook her and they both burst out laughing.

Sei laughed. "And that's a reminder that I'm supposed to be putting you to sleep." She kissed Lucy again and ran her fingers through her hair a couple of times, then laid down on the pillow and closed her eyes.

"Good night," Lucy said before kissing Sei on her eyelids and lying down to sleep.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Rina and Elly sat in the beanbag, watching the organized chaos of Lua and Sei trying to get Suyeon and Lucy ready for bed. They commented on it as if it was a sporting event they were watching. When the OT4 had all gone to bed, Elly looked around and noticed that Doyeon and Yoojung had slipped off to bed at some point.

"Well now," Elly said. "What do we do?"

"What do you mean?" Rina asked.

Elly looked around. "Well," she began, "do we split up and each go to our own rooms. Or both go to your room, even though Lucy and Sei are already there. Or both go to my room, even though Lua and Suyeon are already there. Or . . ." she looked around again and a devious grin spread over her face "do we go to Sei and Lua's room so that we can have a room to ourselves too?"

Rina laughed. "Obviously we'll go to Sei and Lua's room! They've still got the beds put together, so we'll have more room than anybody!"

Elly pouted. "What do you need so much room for? Don't you want to cuddle me?"

"Of course I do," Rina said, gently stroking her girlfriend's hair, "but before too long you'll fall asleep, and you tend to thrash around in your sleep. Last time we tried sharing a twin bed, you knocked me out of bed twice!"

"Okay, point taken," Elly said, getting up and helping Rina out of the beanbag.

"Maybe we should talk to the others tomorrow about swapping rooms," Rina suggested.

"Don't even mention that idea!" Elly said. "The others would probably go along with it, but as soon as Manager-nim finds out, she'll make us draw lots for roommates and swap rooms every weekend."

Rina closed her mouth and then made a motion as if locking it with a key. Taking Elly's hand, she headed off to Lua and Sei's room, and then to bed.


	33. Chapter 33

The members were finishing their breakfast as Suyeon rolled for the day's ships. "OK, it's going to be Sei and Yoojung, Doyeon and Ellie, Rina and Lua, and me and Lucy."

Sei swallowed the last of her yogurt. "OK," she said, "but Lucy and I are going for a walk in the park this afternoon."

"You can't," Suyeon said. "Lucy isn't your ship today."

"Screw that!" Sei said. "Lucy and I are going for a walk today."

"But-"

"I said screw it!" Sei yelled. "We're going for a walk now. Come on, Lucy!" Sei grabbed Lucy's hand and pulled her away from the table.

"But-" Suyeon was being totally ignored.

Lucy looked back at Suyeon and shrugged as Sei dragged her toward the door. She reached down and grabbed her shoes and Sei's as Sei dragged her out the door without stopping her forward motion. She reached back for the doorknob but couldn't quite reach it, so she left the door hanging open.

Suyeon walked over and shut the front door, then came back to the table and sat down. "If any of the rest of you want to do something I've told you not to, now would be the time. I just don't care." She laid her head down on the table, and Lua reached over and rubbed her shoulders. Elly, Yoojung, and Doyeon looked at each other and shrugged, unsure how to handle this situation. Rina finished her eggs and started washing her breakfast dishes.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

When they reach the bottom of the stairs, Lucy was finally able to get Sei to stop. "Can we at least put on our shoes first?" she asked.

"Oh, sure," Sei said. She accepted her shoes from Lucy, not even stopping to wonder how Lucy had them, and started putting them on.

"What's going on with you?" Lucy asked. "I've never seen you get that angry before, and I've never seen you disobey a direct order from Suyeon."

Sei sighed and shrugged, apparently deflated after her earlier storm of temper. "I don't know. Well, I do, but . . ."

Lucy sat quietly, waiting for Sei to continue.

"I'm not really angry at Suyeon. I'm angry about the whole 'pretend ships' routine." She reached out and took Lucy's hand. "I've got three girlfriends I'd love to spend time with, but instead I've got to spend the day pretending to be with Yoojung-unnie because of the dice, because of the fans." She looked up at Lucy, tears glistening in her eyes. "Maybe I'm not cut out for this. Maybe I'm not meant to be an idol."

"Don't even talk that way!" Lucy said, squeezing Sei's hand for emphasis. "I've seen you practive a dance for six hours, all while skipping lunch so you could make weight. No one could sacrifice as much as you have and not be meant to be an idol!"

Sei blinked back the tears. "But what if, no matter how much I want it, it's not meant to be?"

"Now that's just ridiculous," Lucy said, nodding decisively. "I'll tell you what we're going to do: We're going to go for our walk, then we'll go back to the apartment and let Suyeon fuss at us so she feels in charge again."

Sei looked less than convinced by this.

"Plus," Lucy said, "you can be the first to hear the new rumor I heard when I was recording with MJ up at HQ yesterday."

Sei perked up a little. "A new rumor! I want to hear!"

Lucy shook her head. "Nope. Not until we're down by the lake." She stood up and pulled Sei to her feet.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Lucy and Sei walked into the park, holding hands, enjoying the cool breeze blowing across the lake.

"Unless I'm wrong," Sei said, "that's the lake, which means you owe me one new rumor."

Lucy laughed. "No chance you were going to forget about that, was there? Anyway, when I was recording to MJ yesterday, I overheard some of the sound engineers talking. If what I heard is correct, we're going to be in the studio next month recording our next comeback!"

Sei jumped up and down and hugged Lucy excitedly. "That's awesome! And you waited all this time to tell anyone?"

"Well, yesterday was a little busy, if you recall."

Sei nodded. "It was. I'm glad you and Suyeon had fun. . . . Oh! We've got to return your tuxedo!"

Lucy waved her hand dismissively. "I'll make Suyeon go with me to do that after she's given us our punishment."

Lucy led Sei around the lake to a small clearing where they would only be visible to someone directly across the lake from them. She sat down on the ground and then patted the grass for Sei to sit down beside her. Once they were both sitting on the grass, Lucy leaned over and kissed Sei. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you. . ."

"Uh-oh." Sei looked nervous.

"No, it's nothing bad," Lucy said quickly. "I was just wondering: The other day, when we were all fighting over whether or not I should go to the dance with Ji-Min, why were you against me?"

Sei cleared her throat and swallowed nervously a couple of times before beginning, "Well. . . I was afraid something bad would happen if you went, but then I realized you were right and we wouldn't be saying no if Ji-Min had asked to go to the dance with anyone else. And somehow you convinced Suyeon to change her mind, so I figure it must be okay." She looked deep into Lucy's eyes. "Anyway, I was wrong and I'm sorry."

Lucy smiled and looked down shyly. "Your opinion of me always means so much. I think I could stand having all the others with me as long as you were on my side."

Sei reached over and hugged Lucy. "I'm still going to tell you if I think you're wrong, but at least in this case, I'm on your side now."

"That'll do," Lucy said with a smile. "Anyway, what kind of unnie would you be if you let me go off and get into trouble all the time?"

"You mean like disobeying your group leader?" They both laughed.

"Speaking of which," Lucy said, "we should probably be getting back soon so Suyeon can punish us. But if we're ever allowed to leave the apartment again, I want you to come with me to pick out my dress for Ji-Min's dance."

"That'd be awesome! Thanks!"

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Suyeon had gotten her fighting spirit back again and was pacing back and forth waiting for the maknaes to return. "Dish duty for a week," she was saying to yourself, "and a week of rerolls any time the ship dice match them up."

Yoojung looked up from the book she was reading. "I can't remember - who was Lucy paired with yesterday?"

Suyeon stopped short and looked at her. "She was paired with you!"

"That's right!" Yoojung nodded. "And who was Doyeon paired with yesterday?"

"She was paired with me."

Yoojung nodded again. "And when was it that you and Lucy went to the Hanbok Ball?"

A dawning realization came over Suyeon's face. "That was yesterday. I guess I have to let them get away with this, don't I?"

"I'm not saying you have to do anything," Yoojung said. "I was just trying to be sure my memory was correct about a couple of things." And with that, she went back to reading her book.

Suyeon was still standing there marvelling at how neatly Yoojung had boxed her into a corner when the front door opened to admit Lucy and Sei.

"Suyeon-unnie," Sei said quietly, "we're sorry about disobeying you about the ships this morning, and we're ready to take our punishment."

"There won't be any punishment this time," Suyeon said, and she flopped down in her ugly recliner. Surprised, Sei looked at Yoojung, who winked at her.


	34. Chapter 34

By that evening, everyone knew about the upcoming comeback. Though they all knew it could be anywhere from days to weeks to possibly even months before their actual comeback, if the engineers were already talking about it, it was probably happening sooner rather than later. At any rate, Lucy was everyone's heroine for bringing them back news from headquarters, at least for the next three days, when Manager-nim came down to the apartment to deliver the news to them.

"So what's our concept going to be this time?" Suyeon asked.

"Sort of girl crush," Manager-nim said, "only not as much of a girl crush concept as 'La La La'. Sort of a soft girl crush."

Everyone looked sort of dubious at this idea, wondering exactly what Stylist-nim had in mind for them.

"You'll see," Manager-nim said. "I think you'll like it."

"What's the name of the album?" Yoojung asked.

"It's going to be your first single," Manager-nim said, "and it's going to be called 'Kiss, Kicks'. Well, I've got to leave now. You all need to get to bed soon - you start learning the new songs and choreography tomorrow, and you start your appointments with Stylist-nim."

And with that Manager-nim left them alone to digest the news she'd just given them.

"A new single! An October comeback!" Lucy and Lua were practically beside themselves with excitement.

"Soft girl crush!" Sei was excited about the concept. She put her arms around Suyeon and rocked her back and forth. "I bet you're going to be beautiful!"

Suyeon return the hug. "I bet we all will - Stylist-nim has never let us down yet."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1, . . ."

The girls had been with their choreographer all morning working on the dance routine for "Crush," the title track for their new single. Suyeon was just about ready to ask for a short break when they were interrupted by a knock on the practice room door. The door opened and Stylist-nim stuck her head in.

"Annyeong-haseyo," she called out. "I need to borrow Suyeon for an hour or two."

Suyeon's jaw dropped. An hour or two? They'd known they'd all get new hair colors and new hairstyles for the comeback, but what could Stylist-nim have in mind for her that could possibly take an hour or two? Suyeon followed Stylist-nim down the hall to the salon. She knew there was no point in asking questions - Stylist-nim always liked for things to be a surprise - but Suyeon was about to burst with excitement.

If Suyeon thought reaching the salon would provide any clues, she was disappointed. All of Stylist-nim's chemicals were in opaque bottles with numbers, not words, on the labels. Stylist-nim guided Suyeon to the chair, leaned her back into the sink, and started washing her hair. Suyeon gave up on trying to figure out what was going to happen. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of Stylist-nim massaging her scalp. After her hair was washed, Stylist-nim wrung it out with a towel, then started cutting. Suyeon started getting nervous when she saw several inches of length coming off, but she closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and remembered "It'll grow back." Soon she felt something cold being painted on her head and combed through her hair, then a shower cap slid on over it.

"Now we wait," said Stylist-nim. She and Suyeon sat and chatted for a while, then it was time to wash Suyeon's hair. "Not done yet," Stylist-nim said. She painted another concoction onto Suyeon's head, combed it through, then put on a fresh shower cap. "First the bleach, then the dye," she explained.

"Aha," Suyeon thought, "So I'm going to have light hair." Otherwise there'd be no need for the bleach.

Once the dye had been in Suyeon's hair long enough, Stylist-nim washed her hair again, then combed it and blew it out. "Are you ready?" she asked.

Suyeon just nodded nervously. Stylist-nim spun her around to face the mirror.

"I love it!" Suyeon squealed. Her hair was a platinum blonde, just longer than shoulder length. "The Ki-Lings got their wish - I'm a blonde," she said, laughing.

"I'm glad you like it," Stylist-nim said. She looked up at the clock. "The other girls should be in the canteen getting lunch right now. You go join them, and send Lucy down when she gets done eating."

Suyeon stood up, bowed and thanked Stylist-nim, and then rushed to the canteen to find her members.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Sei, Suyeon, and Lua were sitting on the couch watching a baseball game - once again the season was about to end and they hadn't managed to make it to see a game in person, so they were enjoying games on TV whenever they had the chance.

Sei reached up and ran a her fingers through Suyeon's hair. "I never would have expected to see you as a blonde," she said.

Lua, sitting on Suyeon's other side, said "The Ki-Lings had asked for this, so I hope they're happy with it."

Suyeon blushed. Hoping to turn attention away from herself said "I wonder what Stylist-nim is doing with Lucy."

They were startled to hear a voice calling out from the door "Then close your eyes and you'll get to see in just a second."

They all shut their eyes, and even put their hands over them so it would be obvious from behind that their eyes were shut, and waited. Lucy walked around in front of them and said "Okay, you can look now!"

They all opened their eyes and their jaws dropped. "Wow!" Lua said. "You look wonderful!"

Suyeon leaned forward, grabbed Lucy, and pulled her down into her lap. Instead of the dark blonde/light brown colors that Stylist-nim had usually used on Lucy, she'd gone with a dramatic, shiny black. It made her look mature and sophisticated, and her girlfriends just couldn't keep their eyes off her.

"Stylist-nim is getting dramatic this time around," Lucy said. "I can't wait to see what she does with Sei and Lua this time."

Sei brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I just hope she doesn't give me the choppy bangs again - I've been trying so hard to grow my bangs out."

Lua reached across and grabbed Sei by the chin. "But you were so cute with the choppy bangs!"

The OT4 were so excited about Suyeon and Lucy's new hairstyles and speculating what Stylist-nim was going to do with Sei and Lua that they didn't even notice that there was someone in the kitchen, peeking around the corner at them. But there was - Yoojung had a stepped away from her baking for a moment to see Lucy's new hair. She felt a lump in her throat as she saw how happy they all were together. She wondered - not for the first time - what it would be like if she and Doyeon were part of that.


	35. Chapter 35

Doyeon looked across the room at Yoojung. They were both exhausted from the day's dance practice, but not quite ready to go to sleep yet. Yoojung was playing a game on her phone, but it was obvious there was something else on her mind.

"What's wrong?" Doyeon asked. "And don't say nothing - I can tell something's bothering you."

Yoojung shrugged. "It really is nothing. I was just thinking about Lucy."

"She can't help being taller than you," Doyeon said with a smile. "None of us can!"

Yoojung tossed a pillow at her. "That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"Okay then," Doyeon said, smiling conspiratorially, "what did you mean?"

Yoojung looked around, as if one of their members would be hiding in their bedroom. She looked at the door, making sure it was closed, and then slid down to the end of her bed closest to Doyeon.

"I was here the other night when Lucy came in after her appointment with Stylist-nim. . ." she began, then paused.

As the pause dragged on, Doyeon got impatient. "And?"

"And Suyeon, Sei, and Lua were here waiting for her," she said. "And when she came in, they made such a big deal over her and they showered her with affection and she looked so happy."

"That's good," Doyeon said. "Certainly better than if they were all angry and yelling at each other."

Yoojung nodded. "And then I came in from my appointmentment this afternoon-"

"And you were so cute!" Doyeon interjected. "I just wanted to eat you up!"

Yoojung threw herself back in the bed. "And that's great, and I'm glad you like it, but it's just. . . like. . . um. . . you know?" Youjung raised her head, hoping Doyeon would be able to make sense of her incoherent ramblings.

Doyeon nodded. "You're thinking about OT4. And you're wondering if you want us to be part of that."

Yoojung sat up. "Something like that."

Doyeon got up and headed for the door. "We need to talk to Suyeon. I trust her to be thoughtful about this and not try to pressure you into anything."

"What?" Yoojung's head snapped up. "Really?"

Doyeon stopped and turned to face her girlfriend. "I've been expecting this to happen. I'm surprised it took you this long. I was expecting we've have this conversation at some point during the summer."

"I. . . I just. . . I didn't. . ." Yoojung stopped, a troubled look on her face. She took a deep breath and then went on. "I don't want you to think you did anything wrong. That you're not enough for me."

Doyeon walked back toward her. "I know." She leaned down and kissed Yoojung gently. "I just want you to be happy. That's why I'm going to go get Suyeon right now - because I know you won't be happy until you decide one way or the other about this."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Lucy, Lua, and Sei sat on the couch, supposedly watching a basketball game. What the were actually watching, out of the side of their eyes, was the door to Doyeon and Yoojung's room. In the middle of the first quarter, Doyeon had come out and gotten Suyeon, saying it was for an important convo. Then just before halftime, Suyeon came out and got Rina and Elly. Sei had tried asking what was going on, but Suyeon just shushed her and mouthed "later." And so they waited. Whatever was going on on the other side of that door was the most interesting thing, as far as they were concerned, but it would never do to act like it. They certainly couldn't go listen at the door, no matter how much they wanted to. So they waited, and pretended to watch the game, and acted like half their attention - or more - wasn't fixed on Doyeon and Yoojung's door. The game ended - one team won and the other didn't, but none of them could say which was which. The after-game sports news came on, which provided the three girls with an excuse to continue to stay in the living room.

After a while, Rina and Elly came out and headed to their respective rooms. Sei tried to ask Rina what was up, but only got the buttoning lips sign in return. A few minutes after that, Suyeon and Doyeon came out.

"I'm tired. I'm going to sleep," Suyeon announced. Stopping only to kiss her girlfriends good-night, she made her way to her room.

Doyeon cleared her throat. "Lucy, can you come here for a minute?"

Lucy jumped up as if she'd been stuck with a pin. "Sure thing, unnie!"

Doyeon ushered Lucy into her room, then turned to Sei and Lua and mimed "stay here." Then she shut the door and left the two alone again.

"I'm pretty sure I know what's happening - or isn't happening - tonight," Lua said. "I just wish I knew which it was."

"I know," Sei said. "I hate being kept in the dark.

And so, having exhausted the conversational possibilities inspired by the events transpiring behind Doyeon and Yoojung's door, they turned back to pretending to watch the sports news. After a few minutes, Lucy came out. She mimed zipping her lips, then, keeping her face carefully neutral, she kissed Sei and Lua and went to bed.

Doyeon was standing in the doorway. "Lua, Sei, can you come here for a few minutes?"

Sei grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. They stood up and Lua stretched. Putting on an air of nonchalance that neither of them felt, they went into Doyeon and Yoojung's room, and Doyeon closed the door behind them.

Whatever had happened in the room tonight, it had obviously been very emotional - used Kleenex were scattered all over the room. Lua and Sei stood in the middle of the room, waiting for one of their unnies to say something. Finally Doyeon sat down on her bed and motioned for them to sit down. Sei sat at the foot of Yoojung's bed and Lua sat next to Doyeon.

Doyeon and Yoojung looked at each other, as if saying "Do you want to talk, or should I?" Finally Yoojung pointed at Doyeon, then slouched back against her pillow.

"Okay," Doyeon said. "Looks like I'm doing the talking this time. Do you remember a couple of evenings ago when Lucy came in after her appointment with Stylist-nim?"

Sei and Lua both nodded.

Doyeon continued. "Well, Yoojung saw that and you all looked so happy that she thought she wanted to be a part of something like that. But you know Yoojung - she can always see both sides of a situation and has a hard time making a decision. So tonight I basically called her bluff and insisted she make a decision."

"It's just such a tough choice," Yoojung said. "I can see it working out well, and I can see it working out badly, and I have no way of knowing for certain which it was going to be."

Sei took Yoojung's hand in hers. "You never know for certain, unnie. You just have to jump in and hope for the best."

"But you know our Yoojung," Doyeon said, smiling fondly at her girlfriend. "That's not good enough for her. She wanted to set things up as well as she could to try to guarantee success. So I went and got Suyeon, so could talk to her about the possibility of turning the OT4 into an OT6 and what problems we might encounter, and if you all even wanted to do that. And. . . and . . . so many questions."

"And so the first thing that Suyeon suggested," Yoojung said, picking up the thread of Doyeon's story, "was to talk to Rina and Elly and make them aware that we weren't going to try to force them into anything they didn't want."

"And then Lucy," Lua said.

Yoojung nodded. "To make she wasn't going to try to pressure Elly and Rina into anything."

Doyeon looked at Yoojung. "You should have seen Lucy when she was going to bed. It was just about killing her to keep a straight face!"

Yoojung laughed. "I'll bet!"

Sei and Lua looked back and forth at each other and shrugged. "So why'd you bring us in last?"

Yoojung shrugged. "Because you two are the ones whose opinions really matter."

Sei stared skeptically at Yoojung, raising an eyebrow for emphasis. After a long moment, Suyeon broke down and started explaining further.

"Lucy's so obsessed with her plans for OT8 that we know she'll say yes. And Suyeon. . ." Yoojung shrugged and then looked at Sei. "Suyeon's so whipped for you she'll go along with whatever you say."

Lua laughed. "Sounds like she's got us all figured out, Sei!"

Sei turned to face Lua. She raised her eyebrows questioningly. Lua nodded, almost imperceptibly. Then her self-control broke and a big grin spread across her face. Sei sighed and rolled her eyes as she turned back to face Doyeon and Yoojung.

"Just so you know what you're getting yourselves into," she said, her face serious, "you'd better not come around here breaking hearts. I'm very protective of all my girlfrends, and. . . well. . . I guess that includes you now." She smiled at them, warmth beaming from her face.

Yoojung and Doyeon looked from Sei to each other and back again. Yoojung started to blush.

"Does this mean I get to kiss you now?"

"Of course it does!" said Sei, closing her eyes. When Yoojung kissed her, what seemed like an eternity later, her lips were even softer than Sei had imagined.

While sitting watching her girlfriend - no girlfriends, now - kiss, Doyeon was surprised to suddenly have Lua in her lap. Lua wrapped her arms around Doyeon's neck. "You get kissed too, unnie," she said. "Unless you'd rather just watch. . . "

Doyeon felt a sudden feeling of relief wash over her, all the evening's stress gone, and she expressed her relief the best way she could think of: By kissing Lua long and deeply.


	36. Chapter 36

After the first week of promotions for "Crush," the girls were given half a day off before starting the second week. Rina planned to get a couple of extra hours of sleep, then fix breakfast and watch an episode of a drama before spending some time with Elly.

She got up, got dressed and headed to the bathroom to put her makeup on - even for just hanging around the apartment, she liked to wear makeup. She felt almost naked without it. The hall to the bathroom was almost totally blocked. Suyeon was leaning with her back against the wall. Doyeon was standing in front of her, her hands planted on the wall on either side of Suyeon's head, leaning in and kissing her. By flattening herself against the opposite wall, Rina was able to squeeze past them and make it to the bathroom. She doubted they even noticed she was there.

Once she had her makeup on, Rina scooted past Suyeon and Doyeon again and headed for the kitchen. When got there, she discovered Yoojung sitting on the counter, with Lucy standing in front of her, Yoojung's legs wrapped around her hips. The gentle way they were kissing each other was so entrancing that Rina spent the better part of a minute watching them before she realized what she was doing and shook her head to snap out of it. Unfortunately, Yoojung was sitting in front of the cabinet that held all the bowls, so there went Rina's breakfast plans. Instead she grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl on the other counter and headed to the living room.

She saw that no one was watching the TV, so that made her happy - at least some part of her plans could go forward uninterrupted. Unfortunately, when she walked around to the front of the couch, she discovered Lua lying on the couch with Sei lying on top of her. They stopped kissing and looked up at Rina to wish her good morning, but somehow she found this even more disconcerting than if they'd ignored her and carried on kissing. She managed to resist the urge to stomp her foot, and instead just wished them good morning in return and then left to find Elly.

As Rina had expected, Elly was in the room she shared with Suyeon, sitting on her bed writing in her diary. Rina came into the room and shut the door behind her, then sat down in Elly's chair and started peeling her orange.

"Is something wrong?" Elly asked her.

Rina grumbled in general dissatisfaction before saying "I don't know what's gotten into everybody. Everywhere you go in this apartment, it's nothing but girls kissing, all over the place!"

"And you're upset because no one's kissing you?" Elly asked, a roguish twinkle in her eyes.

Rina thumped the half-peeled orange down on Elly's desk. "No. I mean, yes. I mean, maybe. I don't even know anymore! It's so. . . oooooooh!" This last was punctuated by Rina squeezing her eyes shut and balling up her fists.

Elly got up and crossed the room to Rina. Stroking Rina's hair, she said "Come on. We can go for breakfast at Lee's American Breakfast Diner, my treat."

Rina looked up at her. "That sounds good," she said, "assuming we can make it to the door without more kissing girls getting in the way."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Rina and Elly were cuddled together in one of the 2-person booths at Lee's, cups of tea in front of them, waiting for their food. Elly could tell Rina was somewhat calmer, but she still wasn't her usual self.

"You want to talk about it?" Elly asked.

"I don't know," Rina said. "I just. . . I can't. . . I don't. . . Why are they being like this?"

Elly managed not to laugh at Rina's exasperation. "Think of how excited you were to get to spend time with me this morning, after we've been so busy with promotions for the past week."

Rina nodded, not seeing where Elly was going with this. "Okay."

"Now imagine you had five of me."

"I'd still want to see you just as much," Rina said, not seeing the point.

"Right," Elly said, "but since there's five of me, you'd want to see each one of me just as much. So you'd have five times a much feeling of wanting to spend time with your girlfriend."

Rina shook her head, trying to imagine this. "I can't imagine five times a much. I'd go crazy!"

Elly nodded. "Yeah, you might go a little crazy. Do you think you might go. . . crazy enough to make out with one of your girlfriends on the kitchen counter?"

Rina giggled. "You saw that, did you?"

Elly nodded again. "They'd been at it for at least an hour when you got up. I didn't get breakfast either. That's why we're here."

Just then the waitress brought their food - pancakes and bacon for Rina, an everything omelette for Elly - so they fell quiet for a minute while they started eating.

After she'd eaten enough to take the edge off her hunger, Rina stopped and said. "I just don't get it. Are they going to be like this forever?"

Elly chewed her mouthful of omelette, then wiped her lips and asked "Do you remember what we were like when we first started dating?"

Rina thought, then blushed a little. "We used to make out all the time, anywhere."

"Because it was so brand-new," Elly said. "But after a while, we got to where we could keep our mouths off each other until we had some privacy."

Rina cut another bite of pancake and swished it around in the syrup pooled in the middle of the plate. "So this is just temporary."

"I think so," Elly said, slightly hesitantly. "If it's not - or if temporary drags on for too long - I'll call a band meeting and we'll set up some new apartment rules."

Rina leaned against Elly. "I'm so glad you and I aren't involved in the rest of the band's drama."

Elly smiled at her, but a part of her mind was still thinking about Yoojung and Lucy.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

The alarm on Suyeon's phone went off, letting her know that they had half an hour until Manager-nim showed up to pick them up for the day's promotions. After a last kiss with Doyeon, she disengaged herself and called out "Weki Meki, to the living room!"

Once everyone assembled, they saw that the OT6 was there but Rina and Elly were gone.

"I wonder why they felt like they needed to leave," Lucy said. "We were leaving them alone."

The others all shrugged. "I just hope they gave back before Manager-nim gets here," Suyeon said.


	37. Chapter 37

Elly had noticed. She wondered if any of the others had noted. She knew Rina hadn't noticed, or else she'd have blown up and there'd be screaming and crying and hell to pay.

What had Elly noticed? She'd noticed Lucy. Every day, all week, it seemed like every time Elly looked around, Lucy was looking at her. Some of it was just part of the day to day life of being eight girls in a band, living in close proximity, dancing, practicing dancing, going on radio and TV to promote their songs. But this seemed like more than was normal. Elly knew that Lucy was obsessed with the idea of OT8, but she'd also been there when Lucy promised Suyeon that she wouldn't try pressuring Rina and Elly into OT8. Of course, Elly knew how Lucy's mind worked: In Lucy's mind, convincing was different from pressuring, so Lucy's definition of what was acceptable allowed her a great deal more latitude than anyone else's ideas would have.

They had a few hours free one afternoon, between the morning's promotions and the evening's performance. The others were watching a movie, but Elly had already seen it, and anyway, she needed to do laundry. She gathered up her dirty clothes and headed down to the dorm's laundry room. As Elly was passing through the living room on the way out, Rina had asked "Want me to come with you?"

Elly reassured her "No, you can stay here and watch the movie. I'll be back in a little bit."

Elly put her clothes on to wash, then grabbed a magazine that someone had left on the table and sat down to wait for her clothes. She'd been reading for about 15 minutes when she realized that someone else was in the room with her. She looked up and saw Lucy standing in front of her.

"Hi unnie," Lucy said. "Can I hang out with you?"

Alarm bells started going off in Elly's head. "Weren't you watching the movie?"

Lucy shook her head. "I've seen that one already and I tried it, but it ended up not being good enough to watch again."

Elly patted the chair next to hers. "I don't know how much fun hanging out with me will be. I'm just sitting here waiting for my clothes to wash and reading a celebrity gossip magazine."

"Can I read the magazine with you?" Lucy leaned over so that she could see the magazine too, seemingly oblivious to the fact that this meant she was close enough that Elly could feel her body heat.

Elly mentally shrugged. "Sure. Want me to go back to the beginning of the article?"

"No thanks, unnie. I'll just pick it up from here."

It was pretty obvious to Elly that Lucy didn't actually care about the magazine, but she didn't feel like fighting at the moment, so she figured she'd let Lucy try whatever she was trying, then stop her when she needed to be stopped.

The two sat reading quietly for a few minutes until Lucy broke the silence. "How are things going with you and Rina?"

"Everything's fine. How are things going with you and your girlfriends?"

Lucy shrugged. "Everything's fine. . ." After a moment's pause, she went on. "Can I ask you something, unnnie?"

Elly's mind was nothing but alarm bells, but she figured she had to let Lucy try whatever she was doing so she could see if Lucy was actually going to do anything she'd get in trouble for. Rina knew that if Lucy stepped over the line, all it would take was a word to Suyeon, Doyeon, or Yoojung and they'd put a stop to it.

Lucy looked into Elly's eyes. "I don't understand, unnie. Why don't you and Rina want to be part of an OT8? Do you have something against the rest of us? Is there something wrong with us?"

Lucy looked so delicate and vulnerable as she asked these questions that Elly inadvertently let down her guard. Lucy brushed Elly's hair away from her face and leaned in to kiss her. As Elly felt Lucy's lips press against hers, she breathed in the scent of the younger girl's strawberry lip gloss. Before Elly realized what she was doing, she had closed her eyes and was returning Lucy's kisses. She felt Lucy moving next to her and helped out as Lucy moved to sit in her lap facing toward her, straddling Elly with her legs. There's no telling how long or how far this would have gone had Lucy not suddenly found herself being pulled out of Elly's lap.

Lucy and Elly both looked around in confusion, figuring out what had happened when they saw Suyeon with her arm around Lucy's waist, pulling her away from Elly. Elly looked up at them, absent-mindedly rubbing her lips with the back of her hand.

"You - both of you - are so lucky I was the one who went looking for you. If Rina had gotten bored with the movie, she'd go looking for her girlfriend and then where would you be?"

"But, unnie-" Lucy protested.

"No. No, 'but unnie'." Suyeon cut her off, her eyes flashing with an anger none of them had seen from her before. "You promised no pressuring Rina and Elly. That should have included no asking, no encouraging, and no aegyo! It's like. . . it's just. . . " Suyeon looked at Lucy, the anger vanishing from her eyes, replaced by a coldness. "I can't trust you, and if I can't trust you, then I don't want you for a girlfriend." She let go of Lucy's waist and turned to walk out. She stopped in the door, looked back and said "Be in the living room at 4 o'clock to get ready for tonight's performance."

And just like that, she was gone. Lucy looked around and saw that Elly had used the confusion to grab her laundry from the dryer and get out. Lucy didn't blame her - the way she felt, if she could get away from herself, she would. She tried in vain to brush away the tears that were overflowing her eyes, and when they wouldn't stop, she crouched down in the corner of the room behind the dryers where nobody would be likely to find her, and just let the tears come.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

When Suyeon got back to the apartment, she gathered her other girlfriends in her room. As she finished telling her them what had happened with Lucy, Sei stared at her, her mouth hanging open and a look of stunned disbelief on her face.

"I can't believe you would do that," Sei said. "You know Lucy screws up from time to time. You know it! But you also know she never deliberately tries to hurt anyone. And just when she needed your patience and understanding the most - when she most needed you to actually act like a girlfriend and an unnie - you yell at her and toss her aside." Sei started shaking with indignation. "Maybe you think that's the way to be, but I think it's far worse than anything Lucy did today. I'm going to go find her, and if she's done anything stupid, it's all your fault." She turned and stalked out of the room, slamming the door so hard that it bounced open again. Lua quietly walked out after her, shutting the door behind herself.

Suyeon looked at Doyeon and Yoojung. "Was I that wrong?" she asked.

Doyeon and Yoojung looked at each other for several seconds before turning back to Suyeon. "You were right and wrong. And so was Lucy. But right now Sei is right - the most important thing is to go find Lucy and make sure she's okay."

"Then let's go!" Suyeon started for the door.

Doyeon interposed herself between Suyeon and the door. "No," she said calmly, "you'd better stay here."

"Think about it," Yoojung said, laying her hand on Suyeon's arm. "If you were Lucy right now, would you want Suyeon to find you?"

Suyeon sank down into her chair and wrapped her arms around herself. "So I've screwed up, and there's nothing I can do to fix it?"

Doyeon nodded at her. "And that's how Lucy feels right now, too." She awkwardly patted Suyeon on the shoulder. "We'd better go."

Suyeon nodded, then buried her face in her hands.


	38. Chapter 38

Sei ran out of the apartment, determined that Lucy not be alone any longer than necessary. She ran down to the laundry room.

"Lucy?"

No answer.

She tried again, louder: "Lucy?"

Still no answer. Sei started to panic a little bit - it had never occurred to her that Lucy wouldn't be in the laundry room, but now that she wasn't, it hit her what a number of places she could be.

Just then MJ came in and started moving clothes from a washer to a dryer. "If you're looking for Lucy," he said, "I saw her heading into the park."

"How did she seem?" Sei asked him. "Did she look upset about something."

"I couldn't tell," MJ said, shrugging, "she was too far away. I tried calling out to her, but she must not have heard me because she just kept walking."

Sei agreed that this must have been the case, frantically plotting how quickly she could get away from MJ and get to the park.

"When you find her," MJ said, "tell her I said 'hi'." He looked thoughtful for a second. "Do you think she'd go out with me, once your dating ban is lifted?"

"I don't know," Sei said, "and anyway, that's still a year and a half from now."

"Yeah. That sucks." MJ stuck his hands in his pockets and looked glumly down at the floor. "I got to know her a little when we were recording our song together, and I think she's really sweet. Do you think you could tell her that I asked about her?"

Sei kept her features carefully neutral, but on the inside she was screaming - this was the last thing Lucy needed! To have MJ with a crush on her, on top of her girlfriend issues! "Sure, I'll tell her. . . but a lot can happen in a year and a half."

She'd meant it as a brush-off, but he apparently took it as encouragement because I smile spread over his face and he shyly looked up at her through his bangs. "Thanks, Sei! You're the best! Well, I've got to run - the guys are waiting for me. See you!" And with that he rushed out of the laundry room. Sei inwardly laughed a little bit - despite being over five years older than her, MJ seemed like he was younger. He reminded her of an overgrown puppy.

"Now I've got to go find Lucy," she thought to herself. If Lucy was in the park, she was almost sure she knew where to find her.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Suyeon heard the door to her room open and looked up - it was Elly, carrying a stack of laundry. Suyeon looked down again and sat quietly, listening to the sound of Elly putting away her clothes, hoping that one of her girlfriends would be back soon with good news - or any news. After a few minutes, she noticed that the room had gotten quiet. She looked up and saw Elly sitting on the bed in front of her.

"So all the girls but you have gone out on a secret mission?" Elly asked.

Suyeon smiled ruefully. "Something like that," she said. "They all decided that Lucy needed to be found right away, and it would be best if I wasn't the one to find her."

Elly nodded. "For what it's worth, I'm really sorry about all this."

"It's not your fault," Suyeon said. "Lucy's the one who didn't keep her promise."

"Oh come on, Suyeon. That's not everything and you know it."

"I saw her-" Suyeon began.

Elly cut her off, her face growing fierce. "I know what you saw," she said. "I also know that Lucy wouldn't have kept kissing me if I hadn't been kissing her back. So if you want to be mad at Lucy, you've got to be just as mad at me."

Suyeon scoffed. "I know how hard it is to say no to Lucy once she's decided she wants something."

"Yes, but we're her unnies," Elly said. "Sometimes we've got to say no, no matter how hard it is."

Suyeon scowled and looked back at the floor. She crossed her arms and sat quietly. "I don't know why you all keep me as leader," she said. "All I ever do is screw things up."

"Now you're just feeling sorry for yourself," Elly said. She grabbed Suyeon's jaw and forced her to look up. "Yes, you screw up sometimes - we all do. But you're always willing to admit it when you screw up, and you learn from your mistakes, and things generally wind up being better than they were before you screwed up.

Suyeon looked doubtful.

"Look, this isn't the first time you and Lucy have clashed. I remember just a few months ago you almost slapped her when you two were arguing about whether or not she should get to go to a school dance with a Ki-Ling. You two made it through that, and you'll make it through this, too."

"That all ended up being for nothing because Manager-nim said Lucy couldn't go to the dance."

Elly rolled her eyes. "Yes, Manager-nim said that. But Lucy was able to deal with it because she knew she had all her members on her side."

"She never would have had members against her if I hadn't been against her," Suyeon said.

"Yes," Elly admitted, "and you wouldn't have been against her if Yoojung hadn't convinced you that that was the best thing. That's my point - we all screw up sometimes. But we learn from our mistakes, and we fix them."

"But what if I can't fix this," Suyeon said. "What if I've finally pushed Lucy too hard, too many times, and she never forgives me."

Elly smiled at her. "Like that's going to happen. How's she going to get an OT8 if she doesn't have you?"

Suyeon shrugged. "Maybe she's decided she's better off without an OT8."

"Do you really think Lucy's going to let a minor setback get in the way of what she wants?" Elly asked. Now, you stay here and try not to worry. I've got to go spend some time with Rina before tonight's performance."

She stopped on her way out of the room to give Suyeon a hug. She hoped she'd done the right thing, but she couldn't tell - Suyeon seemed just as lifeless as she had when Elly first came into the room.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Yoojung and Doyeon were walking up the sidewalk looking for Lucy when they spotted Lua sitting in a cafe drinking a strawberry frappe, looking sad.

"You keep looking for Lucy," Yoojung said. "I'll take care of Lua."

They split up - Doyeon heading up the street and Yoojung heading into the cafeteria. She walked up to Lua's table and sat down next to her. "Aren't you supposed to be helping look for Lucy?" Doyeon asked her.

"It wouldn't matter - someone else will find her, not me."

"How do you know that?" Yoojung asked.

Lua looked at her. "I read the comments on our videos. I know what the fans say: 'Lua can't sing', 'Lua can't dance', 'Why do they keep Lua around?', 'What even is a Lua, anyway?'"

"Those aren't fans," Yoojung said, taking Lua's hand. "Those are just random netizens. The Ki-Lings love you!"

Lua looked unconvinced. "Whoever they are, it hurts."

The waitress stopped by the table to ask if Yoojung wanted to order anything. She ordered a strawberry frappe, and was thankful for the interruption, which gave her more time to think. They waited in silence until the waitress returned with Yoojung's frappe, at which point she took a sip and then asked Lua "So what are you planning to do about it?"

"I don't know," Lua said. "What can I do?"

"Well, for starters you can stop reading the comments."

"Isn't that just hiding from the problem?" Lua asked.

"Well, you could think of it that way," Yoojung said. "Or you could ask who these people are leaving these comments. How many albums have they made? How many MVs have they been in? Have they ever even gotten to eat an Inkigayo sandwich?"

Lua had apparently cheered up a little bit - the mention of the Inkigayo sandwich had certainly gotten her attention. "Ooh! We're going to be on Inkigayo tomorrow, aren't we? I might skip breakfast so I can get two sandwiches!"

"That's the spirit!" Yoojung said. "Fighting!"

Yoojung took a sip of her frappe and then apparently had an idea - she got a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"And one more thing to ask about these random netizen haters," she said. "How many girlfriends do they have in K-pop groups?"

Lua laughed and then got quiet for a second. "Um. . . unnie," she said in a small voice, "can you finish that quickly so we can go look for Lucy?"

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

If Lucy had gone into the park, Sei knew exactly where to find her: The hidden clearing where Lucy had told her about the comeback. She started making her way around the lake and sure enough, when she got to the clearing, there was Lucy lying on her back in the middle of open area. She saw Sei come into the clearing and rolled over to face away from her.

"You can tell Suyeon that she won," Lucy said quietly. "You can tell her I'll listen to my unnies and do what I'm told. You can even tell her that if she wants she can have an OT5 without me."

"That's not why I'm here," Sei said, sitting down next to Lucy. "And if you want to tell Suyeon any of those things, you'll have to do it yourself."

Lucy rolled over to face Sei. It was painfully obvious she'd been crying - her eyes were red and swollen, and then sun had dried the tears in salt-stained streaks down her face. "Then why are you here?"

Sei took Lucy's hand. "Because I'd heard my girlfriend had been in a fight and I wanted to be sure she's okay."

Lucy blinked. "Didn't Suyeon tell you why we were fighting?"

Sei nodded. "She did."

"And didn't she tell you what I was doing when she found me?"

Sei nodded again. "She did."

Lucy rolled back to facing away from Sei. "Then you know I'm a horrible person and you shouldn't be here."

Sei reached out and grabbed Lucy's arm. "I know no such thing. I know you made a mistake, but I also know that Suyeon treated you totally unfairly because of it."

Lucy rolled onto her back and looked at Sei, the sunlight making her squint. "But she broke up with me."

"She might have broken up with you," Sei said, "but I didn't."

"How does that even work?" Lucy asked.

Sei shrugged. "You're my girlfriend and she's my girlfriend. Whether or not you're her girlfriend is something you have to work out with her."

Lucy shook her head. "I think Suyeon and I are over. I don't think she'll take me back this time."

"You can't say that. I bet she will."

Lucy shook her head again, more vigorously this time. "You weren't there. You didn't see her. She was angry with me, and then she wasn't angry. There was just nothing. She's never been cold like that before. Maybe she's right and I can't be trusted."

Sei reached out and brushed some of the salt off Lucy's face. "Was kissing Elly the best thing you could have possibly been doing this afternoon? No. But are there worse things you could have been doing? Yes. It'll take Suyeon a while to trust you again, but I think it'll happen."

Lucy tried to roll over again, but Sei grabbed her arm and stopped her. "But maybe she's right and I am a horrible person. I mean, look at what I was doing. It's not just about kissing Elly. It's about I had five perfectly wonderful girlfriends, but I wasn't satisfied because there were two more that I didn't have."

"Which reminds me," Sei said, "I ran into MJ this afternoon and he said he wants to date you once our dating ban is lifted."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, because I really need a boyfriend on top of all the girlfriend trouble I've already got."

Sei laughed. "I think it's cute."

Lucy scowled. "I'm serious. Why can't I keep my mind off Rina and Elly?"

"It's just how you're wired," Sei said. "Do you want Weki Meki to be the second best girl group?"

"No, I want us to be the best."

Sei nodded. "And do you want the Ki-Lings to be the second happiest fans?"

"No, I want them to be the happiest."

"So as long as you think OT8 is better than OT6, you're going to keep trying for it."

Lucy put her hand over her eyes. "So Suyeon's right, and I'm just dishonest and I'm going to ruin our relationship so you're better off if you just dump me now."

Sei pulled Lucy's hand away from her face. "Didn't you hear the first part of what I said: So long as you think" - she emphasized 'think' - "that OT8 is better than OT6. . . All we have to do is change how you think."

"That sounds silly," Lucy said, "like I'm pretending I don't want something I want."

"No," Sei said, "it's recognizing that something you can have is better than something you can't have."

Lucy thought about this for a minute. "Even if you're right-"

"I am right."

"Even if you're right. . . that still doesn't answer the question of what to do about Suyeon." Lucy sat up and looked inquisitively at Sei.

Sei looked somewhat abashed. "I think you'll find that Suyeon's state of mind is a little different now than last time you saw her."

Lucy looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I sort of yelled at her before I stormed out to look for you, told her she was being a horrible girlfriend and a horrible unnie."

Lucy's abashment melted into stunned confusion. "Sei? You did that?"

Sei just nodded, a triumphant smile on her face.

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Inkigayo sandwich is an actual thing. It's a sandwich that you can only get at the canteen at the studio where they film Inkigayo. You can read more about it - including a recipe for how to make your own - here: https://www.koreaboo.com/news/idols-obsessed-sandwich-sold-sbs-inkigayo/


	39. Chapter 39

Lucy and Sei got back to the apartment just as Manager-nim showed up with the van. If Manager-nim picked up on the awkwardness in the room, she didn't say anything. The van was quiet for the ride to the studio. Fortunately, the girls were all professionals, so they were able to act as if nothing was wrong once they arrived at the studio. The only potentially awkward moment came during the interview. The interviewer decided to pull out the classic question "If you were a guy, which of your bandmates would you want to date?" Everything was going smoothly until he got to Suyeon, who answered "Lucy, because she has such a beautiful smile, she'd just light up my world." Which of course meant all the cameras zoomed in on Lucy. It took Lucy a moment to realize that Suyeon had been talking about her, so there was a second of her just looking confused as to why the cameras were all on her, before she put on a smile and made a show of looking warmly at Suyeon.

The van ride back to the dorm was just as quiet as the ride out had been. If Manager-nim had been able to focus more attention on the girls, she'd have seen that Rina, Elly, and Lua were talking quietly amongth themselves, with occasional interjections from Doyeon and Yoojung, while Suyeon, Lucy, and Sei were all sitting quietly. The traffic was particularly heavy, so eventually even Rina, Elly, and Lua fell quiet and the girls all either napped or looked out the window.

When they got back to the apartment, Manager-nim dropped them off with a reminder that there are never morning promotions on an Inkigayo day and an instruction to use that extra time resting, so they'll be well-rested for their next TV appearance. With a chorus of promises that they'd do this, the girls are got out of the van and headed for their apartment.

Suyeon tried to go directly to her room, only to find Rina blocking the door. "Sorry Suyeon-unnie," she said, "but Elly says you have to go to the living room for a while before bed."

Suyeon looked around: On one side of the apartment, she could see Elly blocking Lucy from going into her room. On the other side, Doyeon was blocking Sei from entering the room she shared with Lua.

"At least we'll get this done with," Suyeon thought to herself. Telling Rina good night, she turned and headed for the living room. Yoojung was standing in front of the television, her arms folded and a fierce expression on her face. She directed Suyeon to sit in the beanbag, having already installed Sei in Suyeon's ugly recliner. When Lucy joined them a minute or so later, Yoojung told her to sit in the middle of the couch.

"Okay," Yoojung said. "As soon as Rina gets to bed, we'll get started." Looking across the room, she caught Elly's eye and called out "You go sleep in the room with Rina tonight. I'll make sure Lucy has a place to sleep."

Nodding her acknowledgement, Elly followed Rina into her room, then shut the door. Doyeon, seeing that everything was apparently under control, came and kissed Yoojung, wished all the others a good night, and then went to bed. Yoojung then turned back to the others.

"I'm sure you can guess why you three are here and everyone else gets to go to bed already," she began. "but I feel like you need to hear it anyway." She looked from one to another of them, daring them to contradict her or, indeed, to say anything. In that moment, she might as well have been 10 feet tall. "This afternoon was rough. All of you said or did things that you shouldn't have, or at least that you shouldn't have in the way you did. Now normally I'd begin something like this by having you all share a brownie, but we've all got to be at the top of our game for Inkigayo tomorrow, so you're just going to have to do it the hard way. Now, I don't want to have to be here all night, so let's get started." She sat down on the floor in front of the TV and looked from Lucy to Sei to Suyeon, waiting for one of them to decide to be first. Just when she thought she was going to have to nominate one of them, Lucy started talking.

"I guess since I'm the one who started the trouble today, I should be the one to start apologizing." She sniffled and started tearing up, looking down into her lap. Sei was on the verge of getting up to go to her when a pointed glance from Yoojung pinned her to her chair. After a moment, Lucy looked up, blinked a couple of times, and continued.

"I had made a promise, and today I broke it," Lucy began. "I didn't think of what I was doing as breaking my promise. I thought I was doing something close to what I had promised not to do, but at the same time far enough away that I wasn't breaking my promise. Unfortunately, promises don't really work like that. I know that now."

Lucy stopped for a moment, wiped her eyes with her hands, then went on. "I'm just glad the Ki-Lings don't know about this; they'd be so disappointed in me. There's one of my friends that I'd probably lose her friendship if she knew what I'd done. I've already lost at least one of my girlfriends, and because of me one of my girlfriends yelled at another one of my girlfriends. I'm just. . . I know Sei will disagree with me about this, but I think that I should leave Weki Meki after we finish the 'Crush' promotions."

They were all so stunned by what she said that it took Sei, Suyeon, and Yoojung a minute to recognize that she had stopped speaking. Then once they realized it, they all started trying to talk at once. Finally, by a combination of vigorous hand gestures and speaking as much louder as she dared in the middle of the night, Suyeon got Sei and Yoojung to stop talking so that she could speak.

"Lucy," she said, "I don't want you to leave. You're part of Weki Meki. Weki Meki wouldn't be Weki Meki without you. I'll go if that's what it takes to get you to stay."

"Nobody is going to go!" Yoojung interrupted her in a quiet but forceful voice. "That's why we're out here doing this - so that we can get through this without anybody leaving. You're both staying and I don't want to hear any more nonsense about leaving." She stared them all down, then suddenly reverted to her usual cheerful, friendly self. "Now, Suyeon, I believe you were talking?"

Suyeon just stared at Yoojung for a moment, wondering how the petite girl had been able to summon such a powerful voice. She then shook her head to clear her thoughts, turned back to Lucy, and started over. "I don't know why you all want me as your leader. Elly says it's because when I make a mistake, I admit it and learn from it. Sometimes I think you'd be better off with someone who doesn't make so many mistakes, but. . ." She shrugged. "Anyway, the way I handled the situation with Lucy this afternoon was nothing but mistakes from start to end. I was trying to handle situation, but I was so full of emotions I couldn't think straight. I was angry at Lucy for breaking her promise. And I was jealous of Lucy for getting to kiss Elly. And I was jealous of Elly for getting to kiss Lucy right then. I tried to handle the situation, but my head was so turned around that I didn't do anything right." She looked around for a second, obviously nervous by what she was about to say, then turned back to Lucy. "Lucy, I'm so sorry for the way I acted today, and I understand if you want to say no to this, but I'd like to un-break up with you. If you'll let me."

Lucy smiled at her. "Of course I'll let you!" She held out her arms. "Come kiss me!"

Suyeon scrambled out of the beanbag and into Lucy's lap, sitting facing her, straddling her legs, just as Lucy had been doing to Elly earlier in the day. They began to kiss, gently at first, then with increasing intensity, until they were brought up short by the sound of Yoojung clearing her throat. "We're supposed to be trying to finish this quickly," she said, with particular emphasis on the last word, "so if Suyeon will please get back in her beanbag, then Sei can speak and we can all get some sleep before tomorrow's promotion."

Suyeon climbed down from Lucy's lap and settled back into the beanbag. Looking at her, Yoojung couldn't tell how much off the redness in her cheeks was from excitement from kissing Lucy and how much was from blushing, but either way, she liked it. She pictured Suyeon sitting on her lap and kissing her, then chastised herself for losing focus and turned to Sei. "Sei? You ready?"

Sei nodded. "I was a raging bitch today. There's really no other words for it. I called myself defending my girlfriend, and I suppose in some way I was, but I didn't stop to think that the person I was attacking was also my girlfriend." She turned to Suyeon. "Suyeon, Elly told me what you were like when I was gone this afternoon. I'm sorry I did that to you. I should never have attacked you like that and then run off."

Just then, Lua came out of her room, half asleep, her eyes barely open. She stumbled over to join the group in the living room, crawling into the beanbag with Suyeon. "You're all still awake?" she asked in a sleepy voice. "Is everything okay yet?" Suyeon, Lucy, Sei, and Yoojung looked around at each other, smiled and shrugged. Suyeon leaned over and kissed Lua on the forehead. "I think everything's okay. Or at least it's going to be." But Lua had already gone back to sleep.

Lucy took all the cushions off the couch and laid them on the floor next to the beanbag. "I might as well sleep here, since Yoojung gave my bed to Elly," she said, lying down next to Suyeon.

Sei went to her room and returned with a blanket and an armful of pillows. Looking at Yoojung, she said "You'd better go get Doyeon - she'll be upset if she gets left out." She handed out the pillows and then spread out the blanket to cover as much of as many of them as possible.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

When Rina woke up the next morning, the sun was just about to come up. Leaving Elly to sleep some more, she scampered to the kitchen to make a cup of tea to drink while she watched the sunrise. On the way, she tripped over something and almost fell. Looking down, she saw that it was a foot. Following the leg upward, she identified it as Doyeon's foot. Looking around the living room, she saw that all the members of the OT6 were sleeping scattered over the floor in a big puppy pile of girls. She wondered what the big OT6 issue was that had required the previous night's meeting. She smiled smugly, glad that whatever it was, it had nothing to do with her, and continued on to the kitchen to make her cup of tea.

On her way back, she saw that Lua was waking up. "Good morning," she called out. "There's some hot water left in the kettle if you want a cup of tea. You could get one and come watch the sunrise with me."

Lua looked around, apparently coming to terms with the idea of six members of Weki Meki sleeping on the living room floor. "Thanks," she said, "but I think I'm going to go take a shower - while everyone's asleep, I can shower as long as I want and use as much hot water as I want."

Rina laughed. "Sounds like a good plan." She reached for her phone, only to realize she didn't have it with her, being still in her pajamas. "What time do you think we should wake the others up?" she asked.

Lua paused in the process of disentangling herself from the jumble of arms and legs. "We don't have to be at the Inkigayo studio until 3 this afternoon, so I think as long as they're up by lunchtime everything should be fine."

"OK then," Rina said. "Well, I'm off to go watch the sunrise. See you later!"

"See you!" Lua stepped over Lucy and headed for the shower.


	40. Chapter 40

The day at Inkigayo went well. Everyone was rather quiet, some of them wrung out from the previous night's intervention, others just because. Lua skipped breakfast, but she was so nervous she still wasn't able to eat two Inkigayo sandwiches. The performance went well - the new outfits for the occasion were very flattering, and while they didn't take first place, they hadn't really expected to. All they cared about was putting on the best performance they could for the Ki-Lings and for each other, and they all thought they did that.

As they all climbed into the van for the ride home, thoroughly worn out from an exciting day, Manager-nim called out "Remember; Tomorrow's a day off, then the next day Doyeon leaves for filming."

"Doyeon-unnie's leaving?" Lucy asked, looking around in panicked bewilderment.

"Not forever," Doyeon said, reassuringly.

"I thought you knew," Yoojung said.

Lucy shook her head. "I must have missed it somehow."

"It's only for a couple of weeks," Doyeon said.

"A couple of weeks?" Lucy's eyes started to glisten and her lower lip started to quiver.

Thinking quickly, Yoojung invited Lucy to come sit between her and Doyeon for the right home. Nodding silently, Lucy sat next to Doyeon and leaned into her. Doyeon put her arm around her and Yoojung leaned against her from the other side.

"Don't worry," Doyeon said, "soon it'll be you going off to film things and your unnies being left behind."

Lucy wrapped her arm around Doyeon and looked up at her. "And I'll miss you just as much."

Toward the front of the van, Sei handed Lua a white paper bag. "This should interest you," she said.

Lua turned on her reading light and looked into the bag, which turned out to be full of- "Inkigayo sandwiches," she asked in amazement.

Sei nodded. "Just for you!"

"How'd you manage this?" Lua asked. "I never saw you leave."

I didn't have to," Sei said with a smile. "One of the production assistants was flirting with me, so all I had to do was bat my eyes and tell him a sob story about how I wanted to get sandwiches for all my members but our mean old manager wouldn't let me go down to the canteen, and next thing you know I had a whole bag full of sandwiches.

Lua laughed at Sei's impression of herself flirting with the production assistant. "Promise me you'll only use this power for good," Lua said as she stowed the bag of sandwiches safely under her seat.

"Aren't you going to eat one?" Sei asked.

Lua shook her head. "Not right now. I've got a plan for them, if I can get it all worked out." Looking up front to make sure Manager-nim's eyes were focused on the road, she leaned over and kissed Sei on the cheek. "Thank you."

Sei leaned back, exhaustion finally overtaking her. She could still feel the warmth of Lua's kiss on her cheek. She looked around at all her friends and girlfriends. Lucy was just soaking up the attention from her unnies. Suyeon was chatting excitedly with Rina and Elly. Lua was typing on her phone, evidently trying to work out this mysterious "plan" of hers. Sei smiled. Life was good.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Suyeon dreamed that she was trapped. She couldn't move. She couldn't even more her arms. Suddenly she dreamed she was being shaken. Then she woke up and realized she was being shaken. And the reason she felt like she was trapped was because she was, in fact, trapped: Lua was sitting astride her, shaking her by the sounds.

"Good morning unnie!" Lua was saying. "Wake up! It's time for my big surprise!"

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Suyeon tried not to panic after being woken up so suddenly. "What's happening!"

"Well, you're the last one up," Lua said. "You need to get dressed. I've already packed your swimsuit and a towel for you."

By this time Lua had pulled Suyeon to her feet and was getting Suyeon out of her pajamas and into a T-shirt and some shorts. "This is probably our last nice weather until spring," Lua was saying, "so I wanted to do something special."

"What are we doing?" Suyeon asked.

Lua led Suyeon out into the living room, where the rest of the OT6 were waiting for them.

"Today," Lua announced, "is the first ever OT6-nic!"

"OT6-nic?" Suyeon asked, still not entirely awake.

"OT6 pic-nic," Lua explained. "Since Doyeon's leaving tomorrow for 'Law of the Jungle,' I wanted to do something special today."

"So what are we doing?" Doyeon asked. "So far all we've done is wake up early."

"Well," Lua said, "Downstairs are the bikes I rented for us. One of the bikes has a little trailer behind it, with a cooler full of soju, plus lemonade for Lucy, and a sandwich full of snacks, including Inkigayo sandwiches for everyone! I rented us a picnic shelter at the beach, so we'll have a place to hang out when we're not swimming. Then, at 6 o'clock tonight, after we've been playing all day, we'll meet Rina and Elly at Mario's for the whole band to have pizza together to celebrate Doyeon."

Suyeon looked at Lua. "You organized all of this?"

Lua nodded proudly, a big smile on her face.

"But it's only been a week since we found out Doyeon was leaving!"

Lua nodded, "But I only decided to do this last night, after Sei got me the bag of Inkigayo sandwiches."

Suyeon's eyes got huge. "So you organized all of this since yesterday?"

"Since we got in the van after yesterday's performance, to be precise" Sei said.

Suyeon looked around at everyone. "And you're sure you want me as your leader?"

Lua took Suyeon's hand and started leading her out of the apartment. "Yes, you're our leader and I'm our surprise party planner. Now let's go!"

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

The sun was shining as they rode to the beach. After a while, Yoojung moved up the line of bikes so that she was riding next to Lua. "So," she said, "you seem to be more confident in your place in the band than you were a couple of days ago."

Lua smiled brightly. "Even if random netizens don't love me, my girlfriends love me, my bandmates love me, and the Ki-Lings love me!"

"You got it!" Yoojung said.

Lucy rode up on the other side of Lua. "Is this a private conversation, or can anyone join in?"

"Join on in," Lua said. "The more the merrier. How are you doing today?"

Lucy thought for a moment. "Kind of weird," she finally admitted. "I'm enjoying this awesome day you've planned, but at the same time I'm feeling kind of weird about things."

"Like what?" Yoojung asked.

"Like how I didn't even know that Doyeon was leaving until yesterday, probably because I'd been so obsessed with my plans for trying to make us into an OT8. If I could miss something that major, how many other times did I miss when my girlfriends needed my attention?"

"There were probably times," Yoojung said, with a shrug, "but there are enough of us that someone else was able to take up the slack."

"But don't let it happen again," Lua said, "or who knows what we'll do."

Looking over and seeing the horrified look on Lucy's face, Lua reached over and touched her arm. "I'm just messing with you," she said. "You're our Lucy. Nobody could ever replace you."

"And I'm going to keep it that way," Lucy said, sitting up a little straighter on her bike. "From here on out, you're going to see a new and improved Lucy."

"I like the regular Lucy," Doyeon said, pulling up behind her, "but I'd like her better if she took her turn pulling the trailer."

"Trailer change," Lua called out, pointing to an open space on the side of the road.

They all pulled over to the side of the road and Lucy and Duyeon got started switching the trailer from Doyeon's bike to Lucy's. As they finished, Lucy grabbed Doyeon and gave her a big hug. "I'm sorry I didn't even notice you're going to be leaving."

"Hey, hey," Doyeon said, returning the hug. "We went over this last night. You could have done better, but you're doing the best you can. It's fine."

"Well, while you're out trying to survive in the wild, just think about how happy I'll be to see you when you get back. Fighting!"

Whatever Doyeon was about to say next was cut off by Sei yelling "Come on, everyone! The beach isn't going to come to us, so less talking and more pedaling!"

As they were mounting their bikes, Doyeon leaned over to Lucy and asked "Is it just me, or does she get louder every day?"

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Lucy was sitting in the shade, taking a break from playing volleyball, when Lua came over and sat down next to her. "You haven't been drinking your lemonade," she said, handing Lucy a bottle.

"Oh, um, thanks," Lucy said, "but I don't really like lemonade. I'll be fine with water."

Lua took the bottle of lemonade from her, opened it, and passed it back to her. "Try just a sip. I made it special for you. I think you'll like it."

Lucy smiled. "Okay. For you, I'll try it." She took a swig of the lemonade and her eyes got huge. "That's soju!"

"No," Lua said, pretending to look shocked, "that's lemonade! Maknaes don't get soju!" This last was punctuated by such an exaggerated wink that Lucy just had to laugh before taking another, larger drink.

"Whoa!" Lua said, taking the bottle from Lucy and putting the cap back on. "Suyeon'll be pissed at me if I get you drunk, but I figure a little buzz won't hurt. Just pace yourself."

"Sure thing unnie," Lucy said with a mocking grin. After looking around to see that they were still alone on the beach, she leaned in and kissed Lua. "Thanks for taking care of me."

Lua was still blushing when Sei came over and set down beside them. "What are you blushing about," she asked Lua, playfully poking her in the ribs.

"Oh, um," Lua stammered. "Lucy was just thanking me for the lemonade I made for her."

Sei looked suspiciously at Lucy. "I thought you didn't like lemonade."

"I like it the way Lua-unnie makes it," Lucy said quickly.

Sei looked at Lua. "If you've found a way of making lemonade that our maknae likes, I'll have to get you to teach me how."

"Oh, you wouldn't like it," Lua said, shaking her head vigorously. "It's not organic."

"But if you show me how you do it," Sei said, "maybe I can figure out how to make it organic."

"Um, well, that is. . . " Lua stammered.

"Let me taste it, maybe I can figure it out on my own." Before they could stop her, Sei had taken the bottle from Lucy's hand, opened it, and taken a huge gulp of the "lemonade." No sooner had it gone down than she started coughing and her eyes started watering.

Hearing the commotion, Yoojung rushed over and started examining Sei. "Are you all right? What happened?"

"Sei can't handle her lemonade," Lucy said with a barely controlled giggle.

"I tried to warn you," Lua said.

Sei coughed one last time and wiped her eyes. "Not hard enough."

"What's going on?" Yoojung asked.

"Try the lemonade," Sei said, handing her the bottle.

Yoojung tentatively took a small taste, then a large one once she realized what she was drinking. "That's some awfully strong lemonade," she said with a grin.

"Hey!" Lucy said, reaching out in vain for the bottle. "Are you unnies going to drink all my lemonade?"

They were all still laughing at this when Suyeon and Doyeon came over to see what was going on.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

By promising the owner a signed poster, Lua had been able to reserve one of the private dining rooms at Mario's for them. She'd even pre-ordered, so that right after they were seated, the waiters brought in half a dozen different pizzas and an assortment of bottled teas.

"Doyeon gets to pick first," Suyeon said. "This is likely to be her last decent meal until she get off the island."

"Have they told you where you're going to be?" Elly asked her.

Doyeon shook her head as she piled a couple of slices of pizza on her place. "Nope. I made sure to pack a firestick, so that wherever I end up, whatever we find to eat, we won't have to eat it raw."

Rina shivered. "Ugh. Better you than me."

Doyeon laughed at her. "Yeah, if it was up to you, you'd be on a show about surviving at a four-star hotel!"

"But I bet if they did have a show like that," Lucy said as she put her arm around Rina's shoulders, "our Rina would survive there better than anyone else."

They started imagining a high-fashion urban survival show, and by the end of it they were all in agreement that Rina would win, and the only real competition she'd face would be from G-Dragon and from Blackpink's Jennie.

The good spirits continued until the pizzas were almost gone. Then they packed up the leftover and headed back to their dorm. Doyeon went to bed early so she'd be well rested for her first day on the island. Of course, she didn't get quite as much extra sleep as she would have anticipated, because each of her girlfriends had to come in to tell her good-bye. Finally Yoojung sent everyone to bed so Doyeon could get to sleep. They all drifted off thinking of the good times they'd had today and anticipating the next day's adventures.


	41. Chapter 41

A foul-up in the scheduling of her travel left Doyeon with half a day to kill. Checking a map, she saw that she was close to the kalguksu (chopped noodles) restaurant that Im Nayoung's parents own. She decided to give Nayoung a call to see if it would be possible to meet up there for lunch - as much as everyone on I.O.I. wanted to keep in touch, it was hard because they were so busy.

Nayoung was happy to hear from her. "Doyeon! This is so awesome! Geuss what? Chung-ha" - Doyeon couldn't help noticing the teasing lilt that Nayoung put on Kim Chan-mi's new mononym - "and Jeon So-mi are here too! Get to the restaurant as soon as you can!" As reserved as Nayoung normally was, Doyeon was pretty sure she'd just heard a month's worth of excitement from her all at once.

Doyeon found a taxi stand and caught a cab to the restaurant, getting there at the same time the other girls were being served.

"You see!" So-mi said. "I told you Doyeon would get here at the the same time as the food and we should go ahead and order for her!"

Chung-ha pulled a 10,000 won note out of her purse and held it out to So-mi, pulling it out back at the very last second. "You only win," Chung-ha said, "if you also guessed what she would have ordered."

Realizing that all eyes were on her, Doyeon turned to the waitress, waved away the proferred menu, and ordered haemul kalguksu (seafood kalguksu). Chung-ha just rolled her eyes and handed the money to So-Mi, who quickly stashed it in her purse.

The four girls started getting caught up while waiting for Doyeon's food to arrive. "So Doyeon," Chung-ha asked in a conspiratorial whisper, "are you dating anyone?"

Doyeon laughed. "Now unnie, you know I'm under a no-dating clause!"

Chung-ha winked at her. "Of course. But I'm sure there's someone you would be dating if not for that clause."

Nayoung nodded. "And I'm sure you'd tell your unnies about it!"

"And me too!" So-mi chimed in.

Chung-ha reached over and ruffled So-mi's hair. "Yes, and you too, So-mi-a." Turned back to Doyeon, who was just then receiving her bowl of soup, she asked "So? Is there?"

Doyeon quickly took a bite of octopus so she wouldn't have to talk for a minute. By the time she finished chewing, she thought she'd arrived at the perfect answer. "There is, but I don't know if they want me to tell anyone about them. I'll have to text them and ask." She pulled out her phone and started texting Suyeon.

"Ooh! 'They'!" So-mi said. "Doyeon's being all mysterious, won't even tell us if she'd be dating a man or a woman!"

"You know Doyeon," Nayoung said. "Of course it's a woman."

"Then why'd she say 'they'?" So-mi pressed. "Why didn't she say 'she'?"

Chung-ha turned to Nayoung. "She's got a good point. Why didn't Doyeon-a just say 'she'?"

Seeking to return attention away from herself while waiting for Suyeon's text, Doyeon turned to So-mi and asked "Have you heard from your dad recently?" (So-mi's dad was filming the TV show Real Men 300 and going through Korean army training.)

"He's doing fine," So-mi said. "He's tired from the training, but he found time to call me this morning and tell me how it's going."

Doyeon glanced down at her phone, willing it to beep with an announcement that Suyeon had texted her.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Suyeon, Lucy, and Lua were watching a movie together when Suyeon got a text. Thinking it might be Manager-nim, she pulled her phone out to read the text. She was suprised to see it was from Doyeon, and even more surprised when she read what the text had to say. "We need to have an emergency OT6 meeting," she said. "I'll get Yoojung out of the kitchen, you two go get Sei out of the shower." She looked over at her bedroom, which was closed with Rina and Elly inside. "Can we have the meeting in your room, Lua? Mine's occupied."

"Sure thing," Lua said, grabbing Lucy's hand. "Let's go get Sei!"

As they rushed off to the bathroom, Suyeon rushed into the kitchen, where Yoojung was pulling some cookies out of the oven and sliding them onto a cooling rack. "I heard you," Yoojung said. "Let me turn off the over and I'm on my way."

Suyeon and Yoojung rushed into Sei and Lua's room. They sat down on Lua's bed and were waiting when Lucy and Lua rushed in, a wet and disgruntled Sei between them, barely able to hold a towel around herself.

"This had better be a good emergency," Sei said, "if you're going to have these two goobers drag me out of the shower and then rush me in here without even a chance to dry off."

Suyeon rolled her eyes. "I think they just liked the chance to see you in a towel," she said. "Lua, Lucy: Dry Sei off and get her dressed in her favorite pajamas. Meanwhile, I'll go ahead and start the meeting, so keep your ears open."

"We're all here," Yoojung said. "What's the emergency?"

"Doyeon's travel plans got screwed up, so she ended up with half a day to kill before her flight. She got together with some of her friends from I.O.I. for lunch, they got to talking, and now she wants permission to tell them about OT6."

Lucy looked at Suyeon. "Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"Did she say who it was?" Yoojung asked.

Suyeon reread the text. "Nope. I'll text and ask her."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Doyeon nearly jumped out of her skin when when her phone beeped. Nayoung stopped the story she was telling and asked "Well? Do we get to find out the identity of your mystery woman?"

"Mystery person!" So-Mi and Chung-Ha said in unison.

Doyeon didn't even look up as she typed rapidly on her phone. "Not yet. They had questions," she responded. "Now go on with your story, Nayoung. I'm listening."

"Well, as I was saying. . ." Nayoung began.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

"It's Im Nayoung, Chun-ha, and Jeon So-Mi," Suyeon said, reading from her phone's screen.

"Oh, we can trust them," Yoojung said.

Sei was painting her toenails each a different color so she could decide what color she wanted to paint them. "I'm not saying we can't," she said, looking at Yoojung, "but how do we know we can? I mean, you know them all, but the rest of us don't."

"Fair enough," Yoojung said. "Here are some factors in favor of us being to trust them: Nayoung is as gay as anyone in this band, so she's got that hanging over her. Chung-ha is having a successful career right now, and she won't want to risk that by getting involved in a scandal. And So-mi is just barely holding onto her career by her fingernails; she's got no margin for error and no room to get involved in a scandal. Plus, Doyeon and I trust them, and that should count for something."

Sei nodded. "It does count for something. I just didn't want it to count for everything.

"We need to give Doyeon an answer as soon as we can," Suyeon said.

"Do we want to just vote on it?" Lucy asked.

"No way," Yoojung said. "This is too important for that. We need to all be in agreement. We should do secret ballots, but instead of majority rules, it should be by blackball voting - if anyone says no, the answer is no."

Lua dashed out to the bin of drawing supplies in the living room and came back with some slips of paper and pencils.

"Okay everybody," Suyeon said as Lua passed out of the papers and pencils. "Yes if it's okay for Doyeon to tell her friends, no if it's not."

In just a short time, everyone had voted and the votes were sitting in a pile at the foot of Suyeon's bed.

"Who wants to count them?" Suyeon asked.

"I will," Lucy said. She pulled the pile of votes over in front of her and started unfolding them. She put all the yes votes in one pile and all the no votes. . . well, the no votes would have gone in another pile, if there had been any. "The yeses have it!" she announced.

"Okay, I'm sending the text!" Suyeon said.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

"So that's why it took so long to get an answer," Nayoung said.

"And that's why she said 'they,'" Chung-ha said triumphantly.

So-mi had pulled up a picture of Weki Meki on her phone. "Doyeon-unnie, I don't know all your members," she said. "Can you point out to us which ones you're dating?"

"And then tell us how this even happened," Nayoung said, thinking about how many members of Pristin she'd like to date.

"This is Suyeon," Doyeon said, "And Sei, Lua, Lucy, and of course you all know Yoojung."

"I talked to Yoojung this past week," Nayoung said, "and she didn't mention anything about this."

"She wouldn't have," Doyeon said, "first of all, she hadn't cleared it with the rest of us, and secondly, one of our girlfriends was causing problems last week and we had to deal with that."

"That's got to be a big advantage," Chung-ha said. "When you get tired to arguing with your girlfriend, you can just swap out and let one of your other girlfriends argue with her for a while."

Doyeon laughed. "Leave it to you to think that's an advantage," she said, "and never consider that she can do the same thing to you. Sometimes it ends up with the whole group split up over something."

"Seems like a lot of trouble," So-mi said. "I'd rather just have one girlfriend and let that be enough."

"And our other two members feel the same way as you," Doyeon said. "There's no rule that says everyone has to be the same way." Just then the alarm on Doyeon's phone went off. "And that's my cue to get back to the airport so I don't miss my flight.

They each took their turn hugging Doyeon good-bye, and then Nayoung stopped her just before she went out the door. "Tell all of them" - she gestured toward Doyeon's phone - "that I'm happy for all of you, but that if they ever make you cry, then they have to deal with me."

Doyeon smiled, gave Nayoung an extra hug good-bye, and then left before started crying.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Suyeon's phone beeped again. Seeing who it was, she grabbed the remote and paused the movie.

"Hey, everyone, text from Doyeon! 'In a cab on my way back to the airport. Lunch was great. Thank you all for trusting. I miss you all so much. See you when I get off the damn island. heart-kiss-hug"

In the kitchen, Lucy caught Yoojung up in a hug, ready to act as a shield in case her unnie started crying. Yoojung hugged her back. "Thanks, Lucy, but I'm not going to cry. Not right now, anyway."

"Well, if you change your mind, I've got a full box of Kleenex in my room." Lucy couldn't help but wonder if Yoojung would cry if she was going away for two weeks. She knew Doyeon and Yoojung had a special bond from having been on I.O.I. together, and wondered how this factored into her feelings about the other members.

"I don't think I'm going to cry at all," Yoojung said, looking up at Lucy. "After all, I've got you here. And Sei, and Lua, and Suyeon. And even Rina and Elly."

Lucy smiled at Yoojung and leaned down to kiss her. "You've always got me," she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lunch with Doyeon, Chung-Ha, Nayoung, and So-mi actually happened: https://www.soompi.com/article/1256925wpp/chungha-pristins-nayoung-weki-mekis-kim-doyeon-jeon-somi-enjoy-mini-o-reunion


	42. Chapter 42

Elly know that Rina wasn't interested in joining a poly group - she didn't even have to bring up the topic to know. And she supposed she didn't want to be part of it either, or at least not as much as she wanted to be with Rina. But still, it was fun watching the OT6, seeing all the trouble they could get into with each other. It was like living with the world's biggest romantic comedy.

Perhaps the most amusing part was their nocturnal activities - you never could tell who was going to end up sleeping where. Or least, you couldn't tell until Doyeon left to film Law of the Jungle. That was four days ago, and every night since Lucy had been sleeping in Yoojung's room. Suyeon, Lua, and Sei carried out their own abbreviated version of the usual bed-hopping - sometimes one of the younger girls slept with Suyeon in her bed, sometimes they all slept in Sei and Lua's room - but to anyone who didn't know better, Lucy and Yoojung looked like a couple.

Elly wondered if she should get involved - if things carried on as they were, there was going to be drama, once the others realized that Yoojung and Lucy had been neglecting them. Elly could see it from the outside, but the others were all too close to see it, and Rina wouldn't even look. Elly was turning this around in her head, trying to decide if it was better to meddle in her friends' relationship or not, when the choice was sort of taken out of her hands. She was in the kitchen snacking on an apple when Lucy came in.

"Hi unnie," she said. "How's everything? You look like something's bothering you."

Elly shook her head. "I'm just thinking about something, wondering what to do about it."

Lucy hopped up on the counter next to Elly. "Maybe I can help. What's the problem?"

Elly paused for a moment, trying to think of what she wanted to say. "I'm not sure if anyone can help. I just see that something's happening, and none of the people involved see it, and I'm trying to decide if I should tell them or if I should just mind my own business."

Lucy looked panicked. "Is this about us? Like, Weki Meki us? Or like OT6 us? Or. . . anyway, am I one of the people involved?"

Elly opened her mouth, about to say something, when the doorbell rang. Tossing her apple core in the trash, she called out "Wonder who that is?"

She opened the door and Manager-nim hurried in, holding her clipboard.

"Quick," she said, "get the rest of your members. You've got a busy day ahead of you!"

Elly and Lucy scrambled around the apartment, rounding up the rest of the group.

"So what's going on?" Suyeon asked.

"Promotions," Manager-nim replied, as if that explained everything.

"I thought we weren't doing any promotions for while Doyeon is gone," Yoojung said, a puzzled expression on her face.

"You weren't," Manager-nim said, "but now you are. You'll all be doing a public performance and fansign this afternoon, and Suyeon, Elly, and Yoojung will be on 'Hello Counselor' tonight."

"I'd love to be on 'Hello Counselor'," Lucy said. "It's one of my favorite shows."

"Maybe when you're older," Manager-nim said, recycling one of Lucy's least favorite phrases. "But for now they want the unnies."

Lucy started to pout, but Sei pinched her. "Being in the audience for 'Hello Counselor' is a lot of fun too."

"Yeah, I guess so," Lucy said, trying to banish the disappointment from her face. "Do we know what the topic is tonight?"

Manager-nim checked her clipboard. "No, it's apparently going to be a surprise. Now get dressed and let's get ready to go - black and red outfits today!" As the girls scrambled to get ready, Manager-nim sighed and wished - not for the first time - that she had been assigned to a solo artist. She liked all the girls in Weki Meki individually, but as a group they were a lot to handle.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

As they were getting into the van for the ride to the unexpected performance, Elly called out to Yoojung "Come sit by me, Yoojung! I need to talk to you!"

"I thought I was going to sit by you!" Rina said, looking hurt.

Elly gave Rina a quick hug. "Not this time - I need to have a private conversation with Yoojung. Maybe when we're reading to Hello Counselor, if Yoojung and I have finished our conversation."

"Fine!" Rina said, rolling her eyes as she flounced off to the seat furthest from Elly and Yoojung. "Unnies having secret conversations. Unnies going on Hello Counselor. Seems like today's all about the unnies."

"Now you sound like Lucy!" Sei said, as she slid into the seat behind Rina.

"What'd I do now?" Lucy asked with a slight whine in her voice.

"Nothing," Sei said with a laugh.

"I'm not the only one who ever complains about the unnies!" Lucy said.

"No," Sei admitted. "Just the one most likely to."

"That's just because no one else has as many unnies as I do!" Lucy said with a pout. She saw Elly sitting in the back of the van and started to go sit by her, but Elly headed her off with a quick "Not right now, Lucy! I'm talking with Yoojung," before leaning back over by Yoojung and contining whatever they were talking about.

Sei tugged on Lucy's hand. "Come sit by me!" As Lucy flopped down next to her, Sei grabbed Lucy's arm and put it around her shoulders. "I'm not feeling very much like an unnie today," she said, "so why don't you be my unnie for a while?"

Lucy pondered this. "Do that mean I get to tell you to stand up straight when you slouch?"

Sei suddenly sat up straight. "I never slouch!" She then leaned back against Lucy. "I'm leaning now, and that's hardly the same thing at all."

Lucy laughed. "If you say so, Sei-ah."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

After the performance and the fansign, Manager-nim announced that they were going to eat ramen at a place near the TV studio before the filming of "Hello Counselor'."

As the girls piled into the van, Lucy and Sei sat together again, as did Suyeon and Lua. Rina and Yoojung switched places - Rina sitting in the back with Elly and Yoojung sitting up front by herself. Lucy and Sei tried to talk to Yoojung, but she said she had a lot of think about, but she'd sit and talk with them at the restaurant. Apparently pacified by this, they started talking about the afternoons events - how they thought the performance had gone, if they had met any interesting Ki-Lings during the fansign, and so forth.

Suyeon noticed that rather than being her usual chatty self, Lua was sitting quietly staring out the window. Getting the younger girl's attention, she asked "Is something wrong?"

Lua tried to shake her head no, but her mouth betrayed her and said "yes." Suyeon took her hand, interlacing their fingers.

"What's wrong?" Suyeon asked, leaning her head against Lua's. "You want to tell me about it?"

"It's nothing," Lua said, trying to go back to looking silently out the window.

"It doesn't sound like nothing," Suyeon said, squeezing Lua's hand. "C'mon, tell me about it. If not for you, then for me: You can think of it as letting me practice for 'Hello Counselor'."

This last idea coaxed a faint smile out of Lua. She nodded her head, closed her eyes, sighed and began. "It's the Ki-Lings," she said. "Or maybe it's me - I can't tell. All I know is, there more Ki-Lings cheering for Doyeon than were cheering for me, and she wasn't even there!" Tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Hey now," Suyeon said, trying to head off the flow of tears, "it's not like that. Doyeon and Yoojung get more yelling and more fanmail than any of the rest of us, because people already knew them from I.O.I. before Weki Meki was started, but I've noticed that as time goes by, it's been evening out. And besides, even if you don't have the most fans, you've probably got the cutest ones. Didn't you notice the blond boy with a sign saying 'I love you Lua' down near my end?"

Lua blinked away the tears before they could finish forming. She smiled weakly. "No, I didn't see him. Was he cute?"

"So cute," Suyeon said. "He had the most beautiful smile. Even Doyeon would have gone straight for him."

Lua thought of all the fans who had signed up for her at the fansign and smiled. "Maybe you're right," she said, leaning over and giving Suyeon a hug.

As Lua began to chatter on about all the Ki-Lings she had seen, Suyeon was only listening with half her mind. The rest was wondering what to do about Lua. It was easy enough to cheer her up when she had these little spells of feeling down about herself, but they weren't getting any less frequent. She needed to call a meeting of the unnies to try to figure out what to do about it. She just didn't know if she needed to have the meeting right away, or if she could wait until Doyeon got back so they could get her insights as well. She thought it could wait - Lua's "episodes" weren't getting any less frequent, but they weren't getting any more frequent either - but she'd watch and be ready in case she needed to call an emergency meeting before Doyeon's return.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

That night's "Hello Counselor" was a fairly routine parent-child conflict (Q: Why won't my daughter try to get a better job? A: She actually likes being a hairdresser!) rather than the controversial episode that Yoojung had been hoping for. It was kind of nice because none of them were in a position to say anything that would get them in trouble, but at the same time it was kind of boring so they had trouble staying awake, especially when filming ran late. Then on the way home there was apparently some kind of an accident on the highway, turning what should have been a 2-hour drive into almost a 4-hour drive. Consequently, the girls were all half-asleep when they got home.

"Lucy-unnie, will you cuddle me tonight?" Sei asked.

Yoojung did a double-take. "Lucy-UNNIE? What?"

Sei looked at Yoojung, blinking tiredly. "Lucy was tired of everyone being her unnie, and I wasn't feeling very much like being an unnie today anyway, so we decided today she could be my unnie."

Yoojung tried to wrap her mind around this concept. "But. . . you can't just. . . can you?"

"Just like you can't have five girlfriends?" Sei asked.

Lucy put her arm around Sei's shoulders. "If Sei-ah wants me to be her unnie, why shouldn't I?" She looked down at Sei. "And yes, your unnie will come cuddle you, as soon as I brush my teeth and put on my jammies."

Shaking her head, Yoojung went to see if she could find Suyeon or Lua. After her conversation with Elly this morning, Yoojung had realized that she'd been focusing too much of her attention on Lucy and neglecting her other girlfriends. (And if Elly had noticed, who else had noticed?) She didn't see Lua, but when she looked for Suyeon, she saw her already in her bed.

"Uh, Suyeon, do you want to come sleep in my room tonight?"

"Sure," Suyeon said, reflecting that it had been a while since she'd had the chance to spend a night with Yoojung.

"You can head on in. I've got to go brush my teeth." As tired as Suyeon was, the smile that Yoojung gave her motivated her to get moving.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

When they got back to the apartment, Lua was just as tired as the others, but she could tell from the way she was feeling that she'd have trouble falling asleep. So while the others were getting ready for bed, Lua went to the kitchen and made herself a cup of chamomile tea. By the time she finished her tea and walked around into the living room, everyone was apparently already in bed.

After brushing her teeth, Lua went and checked Suyeon's room. No Suyeon. She found Suyeon in Yoojung's room, wrapped around Yoojung and both of them fast asleep. On reaching her room, she found Sei and Lucy asleep in Sei's bed. They hadn't moved the two beds together - probably just from being too tired to think of it - but Lua took it as as hint. She went to her bed, wrapped herself in her blanket, and quietly cried herself to sleep.


	43. Chapter 43

Lua woke up before anyone else and went to get a shower. When she got out of the shower, she saw that Rina was up and putting some eggs on the boil.

"Can you put a couple on for me?" Lua asked.

"Sure thing," Rina said, putting two more eggs in the pot. "I'm making soft-boiled eggs. Do you want soft-boiled or hard-boiled?"

"Soft-boiled is fine," Lua said. "You want me to make some toast?"

"Sure," Rina said.

A few minutes later, Rina and Lua were sitting at the table, eating breakfast while everyone else was still sleeping. Rina looked at Lua while they were eating. "What's wrong, Lua?" she asked. "Your eyes are red."

Lua rubbed her eyes, wishing she hadn't cried so much. "It's nothing," she said, "I got some shampoo in my eyes when I was in the shower."

Rina put her spoon down and looked at Lua, raising one eyebrow for emphasis. "Oh, really?"

Lua sputtered, frustrated by Rina's unwillingness to let her get away with this. "No, really. I'm fine," she said, trying to put on a brave face.

Rina rolled her eyes, picked up her spoon, and started eating again. "I don't believe you," she said, "and I'm willing to listen whenever you want to talk about it."

"It's nothing, really," Lua said. "I'm going to do my dishes and then go for a walk."

"You want me to come with you?" Rina asked, throwing away her eggshells and joining Lua at the sink.

"No, I kind of want to be alone for a while. I've got some thinking to do."

"Okay," Rina said, drying the dishes as Lua washed them.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

They had the morning off, then after lunch Manager-nim was supposed to come pick them up to come record some radio promos. As lunchtime drew near, Suyeon looked around. "Has anyone seen Lua?" she asked.

Rina looked up from the magazine she was reading. "She was going to go for a walk this morning. Isn't she back yet?"

"No," Suyeon said, looking worried. "I'd better go look for her."

Suyeon put on her shoes and headed out to look for Lua. She went down the stairs and decided to start by checking the arcade, then the park. The arcade was busier than usual for a weekday morning, but none of the people there were Lua. Suyeon left the arcade and headed for the park. There were some boys throwing a frisbee around. There were some little kids on the playground, with their moms sitting on benches chatting while they watched them. Down by the edge of the lake there was a man sailing a remote control boat. Suyeon headed back toward the apartment, hoping that Lua had turned up while she was gone. When she started to go up the stairs, she thought she saw something moving under the stairs. Climbing down she walked around and saw Lua sitting under the stairs.

"Lua," Suyeon said. "what are you doing?"

"I just needed to be alone," Lua said.

Suyeon noticed that Lua was slurring her words. She narrowed her eyes and looked closely at Lua. Her eyes were red. Suyeon sniffed. "You've been smoking." It wasn't a question.

Lua turned away from Suyeon, leaning against the wall. Suyeon came and sat down by her. "What's wrong? Why did you do this?"

"Because no one would care anyway." Lua closed her eyes. A tear was running down her cheek.

Suyeon put her arm around Lua's shoulders. "Of course people care. I care. The other OT6 care. Rina and Elly care. The Ki-Lings care."

Lua tried to pull away, but Suyeon was holding her to tightly. Lua tried to stand up, but Suyeon pulled her back down. She sat down too hard and knocked her head against the wall. "Ouch," she said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Talk to me," Suyeon said, "please Lua - talk to me."

Lua pulled out her phone, loaded a webpage, and handed the phone to Suyeon. "Look at that."

The title of the page saw "Who's your Weki Meki bias?" Yoojung and Doyeon were at the top, with about 20 thousand votes each. Suyeon was third, with about 10 thousand votes. Lua was at the bottom, with just under 3 thousand votes. Suyeon put the phone down and wrapped her arms around Lua. "You can't let that bother you," she said. "Someone's going to come out at the top of the poll, and someone's going to be at the bottom."

"It's never Doyeon or Yoojung at the bottom. It's never you. Sometimes it's Elly, sometimes it's Sei, but most of the time it's me. I'm tired of being everyone's least favorite."

"You're not my least favorite," Suyeon said, brushing Lua's hair out of her and trying to wipe her tears away.

Lua shook her head. "You don't have to keep saying things like that. It's okay. I know how things are."

"What do you mean?" Suyeon asked.

Lua pulled a joint of her pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag. Suyeon was so shocked she didn't even try to stop her. "Every band has a designated fuckup. For Weki Meki, it's me. I'm the one that fans look at and ask 'how'd she even get into the band?' I'm the one the hosts never ask a question of when we're on a show. I'm the one who can't even manage to do 'Tipsy Live' properly. The nicest thing anyone ever says about me is 'Lua's so extra.'" She took another hit, inhaled, and held it.

"None of that's true," Suyeon said. "You're not the only one who fucks up. Remember the day I ate four of Yoojung's brownies?" Suyeon reached over and plucked the joint from Lua's unresisting fingers. Lua slowly turned her head to watch her. Suddenly inspired, Suyeon started smoking as quickly as she could, drawing the smoke deep into her lungs and holding it as long as she could. After a couple of repetitions of this, Lua snatched the joint away from her and threw it away.

"What are you doing?" Lua asked. "We've got promotions this afternoon."

Suyeon looked at Lua, struggling to get her eyes to focus. "If you're a fuckup, then I'm a fuckup too, because I love you." She leaned over and kissed Lua, missing her mouth and kissing the side of her face. Just then a shadow fell over them. Suyeon turned and looked up. It was hard to see because of the sun behind them, but from their silhouettes she managed to recognize Sei and Lucy.

"Suyeon," Sei said, "what's going on?"

Suyeon leaned against the wall and did her best to focus on Sei. "Lua and I are gettin' our smoke on."

Sei scowled. "Manager-nim will be here in an hour. We've got to get you up to shower so you don't smell like weed when she gets here. Then you've got to have some ramen and some bellflower tea to try to sober up." Sei grabbed Suyeon's hands and pulled her to her feet. Lucy reached for Lua, but Lua pulled her hands away and stood up on her own.

"I can do it myself," she said. "Nobody needs me, and I don't need anybody."

"What are you talking about, 'no one needs you'? We need you. I need you." Lucy reached out for Lua again, but Lua fended her off and stumbled toward the stairs.

"You don't need me," Lua said again as she started climbing the stairs, Lucy following just behind her. "You've got Sei, and Suyeon, and Yoojung, and Doyeon. What do you need me for?"

"You can always make me feel better when I'm down," Lucy said. "And no one else can make me laugh like you. . ."

"Oh yeah," Lua cut in. "Lua's so extra. Lua's the funny one. I'm tired of being the funny one! I want someone to take me seriously! I want someone to care about me! I want someone to care what I feel!" She sat down on the step and buried her face in her hands. Sei let go of Suyeon and rushed to her.

Grabbing Lua's shoulders, Sei began shaking her. "I care about you! Can't you see that? I love you! I care about what you feel!" Sei pulled Lua to her feet, put her arm around her shoulders, and started guiding her toward the apartment.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

The radio promotions that afternoon went fine. If Suyeon and Lua seemed a little subdued, it was covered up by everyone else being a little bit more energetic. Apparently even Manager-nim was pleased - instead of taking them to a restaurant for dinner, she brought them home and called to order chicken and beer delivery. "Don't drink too much," she said, "and if Lucy and Rina drink any beer, I don't want to hear about it. I'll be back at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. You've got the performance and promo at the business high school."

After Manager-nim left, Yoojung grabbed Lua's hand and headed for her room. "Let us know when the food gets here," she called back over her shoulder.

Once they were in the room, Yoojung sat down on her bed and pulled Lua down next to her. "Sei and Suyeon told me about what you said earlier today, and I just wanted to apologize to you. Since Doyeon left, I've been spending a lot of time with Lucy and neglecting everyone else. But you're really special to me. I want to be sure you know that."

Lua looked at Yoojung and started tearing up. "Really? I'm really special?"

Yoojung scooted closer and hugged Lua. "Yes, you're very special to me. I'm sorry I was neglecting you. Would you like to sleep in here with me tonight?"

Lua cuddled closer to Yoojung. "I'd like that."

Just then Lucy knocked on the door, which swung open because Lua hadn't closed it all the way. "Food's here," Lucy said. "And can I give Lua a hug?"

Yoojung looked at Lua. "Do you want that?"

Lua nodded. Lucy ran to Lua and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm so sorry we made you feel unwanted. That was never something we wanted to do!"

Lua sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Thanks," she said. "You know what I'd like?"

"What?" Lucy and Yoojung asked at once.

"Remember the other night when you and Suyeon and Sei were fighting and we had the intervention in the living room and then afterward we all slept on the cushions on the living room floor, all cuddled up together? I want to do that again."

Yoojung smiled and ruffled Lua's hair. "I think we can do that."


	44. Chapter 44

On M Countdown, Weki Meki were singing and dancing to "True Valentine," the same way they had done it hundreds of times in practice. But whether it was because of nerves from being on TV or some other reason, Suyeon fell down. The others kept up the choreography as usual, as they had been taught, trusting Suyeon to get up and insert herself into the dance at the present place. But when they got to Yoojung's rap, Lua noted that Suyeon still hadn't gotten up - something was wrong with her right ankle and it kept giving out on her. To make matters worse, Suyeon was at the back of the stage, and within seconds after Yoojung finished rapping, she'd need to be at the front of the stage for her vocal flourishes - she and Sei were supposed to be front and center, riffing on the chorus. Lua saw Suyeon again try and fail to get up and without thinking she got out of her place in line and went to help her. Throwing Suyeon's arm over her shoulders, she provided support and helped the leader get to her place.

"I'll be your legs," she whispered as they moved. "Let's do this."

For the remainder of the song, Liu stuck to Suyeon, helping her through the remainder of the choreography. As the song ended, they clung to each other, breathing in unison, as the crowd cheered. As they headed backstage, Suyeon tried again to put weight on her right foot and was unable to do so. When they got backstage, some of the others tried to take Lua's place helping Suyeon, but she waved them off.

"I've got this."

Lua helped Suyeon through the backstage area and into the van. Once they were seated in the van, they collapsed against each other. Manager-nim examined Suyeon's ankle. The swelling was only getting worse, and it was starting to be discolored.

"I think it might be broken," Manager-nim said. "I'm going to drop the other girls at your apartment, then take you to the emergency room."

"Let's just take Suyeon to the ER," Yoojung said. "We can wait in the waiting room."

Manager-nim shook her head. "No, I can't be worried about you girls while I'm trying to get Suyeon's leg treated." She looked at Suyeon. "You can choose one girl to go with you to the ER."

Suyeon looked at Lua and raised her eyebrows. Lua nodded. "I pick Lua," Suyeon said.

"Lua it is," Manager-nim said. "The rest of you will have to wait at the apartment."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

"Doyeon!" Sei screamed in surprise and stopped in the doorway, blocking the other girls out of the apartment. "I thought you weren't getting back until tomorrow!"

"I got back early," Doyeon explained unnecessarily as she hugged Sei and pulled her out of the door so the others could get in.

After Doyeon had gotten hugs from everybody, she noticed that not everyone was there. "Where are Suyeon and Lua?" she asked.

"They're at the ER," Yoojung said. "Suyeon hurt her foot during a performance, Lua helped her get through, and now they're at the ER getting Suyeon's foot x-rayed. Manager-nim thinks it's broken."

"She broke her foot during a performance?" Doyeon asked incredulously.

"Apparently so," Elly said. "Here, I've got the video so we can see."

They are clustered around to watch the video on Elly's phone. Sure enough, about halfway through the song, they could see Suyeon fall down and not be able to get up again. Then they could see Lua help her up and then shuffle her around during the remainder of the song.

"Look at the comments," Lucy said.

Apparently Lua's actions had really made an impression on the Ki-Lings. "Yay for Lua!" "Lua is a hero!" "Way to go Lua!"

Yoojung headed for the art supply box. "We should make a poster for Lua, with some of those comments on it!"

"That'll be great! Just the thing!" Sei started taping together sheets of paper to make a poster-sized sheet.

Doyeon looked puzzled for a moment until Lucy explained to her Lua's crisis of the day before. ". . . so all we had time to do before Manager-nim showed up was to wash them and give them some ramen and bellflower tea, but apparently it was enough, because we made it through the promos, and afterward Manager-nim ordered us chicken and beer."

"I had no idea Lua felt tha way," Doyeon said, shaking her head and making a mental note to do something special for Lua the first chance she got.

"How does this look?" Elly asked, holding up the poster. She hadn't added all the detail to the figures yet, but it was obvious she'd drawn Lua and Suyeon dancing, with Suyeon holding her injured foot off the ground and Lua helping her stand up.

"It looks great," Yoojung said, "now we need to write the comments in the background so that it's ready when they get here, and if there's any time left when we're done writing the comments, you can work on cleaning up the drawing so that it meets your standards." Yoojung knew that Elly could easily spend a week polishing and adding detail to the drawing, at the end of which time it would be practically perfect, but this time the important thing was to get it done quickly, so it would be hanging on the wall when Suyeon and Lua got home.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

The young doctor put Suyeon's x-ray up on the light board and pointed out a small dark line on one of the bones in her ankle. "Right there is where you broke it," he said.

"I wish I'd just sprained it instead of breaking it," Suyeon said. "We've got a full schedule of appearances and promotions."

"Oh no," the doctor said, "you don't want that. A sprain could take months to heal, and you'd have to stay off your foot all that time. A simple fracture like this, I can put you in a walking cast and you can dance out of here tonight."

"How long will she have to wear the cast?" Manager-nim asked.

The doctor shrugged. "Anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month. A couple of weeks from now, her regular doctor will want to take the cast off and get new x-rays. Depending on how well the bone has healed by that point, he might put her back in a cast for a couple more weeks or he might just put her in a splint."

"She," Lua said to herself. Ever since Yoojung had pointed out how rare female doctors are in Korea, the girls in Weki Meki had been proud that their regular doctor was a woman.

Within 15 minutes, the doctor had a cast on Suyeon's ankle and they were free to go. "You'll have to take a wheelchair out to the van because of safety regulations, but otherwise you could actually walk out of her right now."

Suyeon looked up at Manager-nim. "Can we stop at the gift shop on the way out?" she asked. Manager-nim looked confused. Suyeon beckoned for her to bend then, then whispered something in her ear. By the time Suyeon finished whispering, Manager-nim was smiling and nodding her head.

"We can do that," she said.

Manager-nim pushed Suyeon's chair down the hall and Lua walked along beside her. When they reached the gift shop, Suyeon said "You wait right here. We won't be long," and Manager-nim pushed her into the shop.

Lua was curious about why Suyeon wanted to stop by the gift shop, but figured if Suyeon had wanted her to know, she would have told her. So she stood by the wall and watched people go by while waiting for Suyeon to get out of the shop. When Manager-nim pushed Suyeon out of the shop a few minutes later, Suyeon was holding a bouquet of flowers: Pink and white roses, yellow and orange daisies, white sprigs of baby's breath, and some sort of purple flower that Lua couldn't identify. She held the flowers out toward Lua, who stood there looking at them until finally Suyeon had to say "These are for you, Lua. As a thank you for helping me get through the performance tonight."

Lua took the flowers from Suyeon and deeply inhaled their fragrance. "They're beautiful," she said, "but really, you didn't have to. Any of the girls in the group would have done what I did."

"Maybe so," Suyeon said, smiling up at Lua, "but you're the one who did it."

Lua bent down and gave Suyeon a hug. "Thank you," she said. "I'm just glad I could do it."

"OK, let's go," Manager-nim said. "We've got to get you home so you can get some rest before tomorrow's promos."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Suyeon hobbled up the stairs and up to the door of the apartment, with Lua walking beside her to make sure she didn't fall again. They were just getting their keys out to unluck the door when the door opened without them touching it. They were even more surprised when they saw that the person who'd opened the door was Doyeon.

"I got back early," she said. "Now come on in so we can get you off that foot."

Doyeon led them into the living room. Suyeon's ugly recliner was empty, so she was installed there. Lua sat on the arm of the chair, holding her flowers.

"My ankle's broken," Suyeon said, "but the doctor said I can still dance on it, so I'll still be able to take part in all our promos and appearances."

Lucy knitted her brows. "Don't you need to rest so it can heal?"

Suyeon shook her head. "Apparently not. He put me in this cast that I can walk on, and I walked in from the van tonight."

Just then Sei reappeared from the kitchen carrying a vase of water. She set it down on the table and then put Lua's flowers in it, arranging them to show off their beauty to best advantages. "These really are beautiful flowers," Sei said. "You got them in a hospital gift shop?"

"Aren't they pretty?" Lua said, as she leaned over to give Suyeon and hug and a kiss. As she straightened up, she noticed the poster hanging on the wall above the TV. "What's that?" she asked, even though it was obvious what it was: Her helping Suyeon dance. "What are all the words in the background?"

"Those are comments the Ki-Lings left on the video," Yoojung said.

Lua got up and walked toward the poster, standing in front of it and reading all the nice things the Ki-Ling had said about her. Sei came up behind her and caught her up in a back hug. "Maybe next time you'll believe us when we tell you how important you are to the group and how special you are to us."

"Maybe," Lua agreed, turning around in Sei's arms and returning the hug.


	45. Chapter 45

It was a rare Friday night off for Weki Meki. Elly and Rina had gone out to dinner. Suyeon and Lua had gone to see a movie. Doyeon and Sei had gone makeup shopping - Doyeon was the only one who could match Sei's obsessive interest in makeup. Lucy was sitting on the couch, her feet tucked under her, drawing. Nothing she drew seemed to please her, though. Every few minutes she'd stop, tear out the page she'd been working on, crumple it into a ball, and toss it across the room toward the trash can. Already the living room floor was littered with her unsuccessful attempts. Yoojung came bouncing into the room, saw what Lucy was up to, and decided action needed to be taken. She hopped onto the couch by Lucy, wrapped her arms around her, and turned on the aegyo.

"Lucy-yah," she pleaded, "I'm hungry. Let's go get a snack."

"I don't want to go," Lucy said, throwing away her latest attempt at a drawing. "You go without me."

"But Lucy-yah," Yoojung said, putting on her cutest, most enticing face, "it's no fun eating tteokbokki by myself. And on a Friday night. . . " Yoojung pouted.

"Fine," Lucy said, setting aside the sketch pad. "Nothing I was drawing was coming out right tonight anyway."

"Yay!" Yoojung jumped up, grabbed Lucy's hands, and pulled her off the couch. "C'mon! Let's go right now!"

Lucy recognized she wasn't going to get any peace until she and Yoojung had eaten tteokbokki together, so she might as well make the best of it. Pasting on a smile she didn't really feel, she said. "OK. Where are we going?"

Never letting go of Lucy's hand, Yoojung started heading toward the door. "Doyeon told me about a new tteokbokki restaurant that opened on the other side of the park. She said their spiciest sauce is the spiciest she's ever had."

Lucy looked dubious. "That might be too hot for me - I don't like spicy food as much as you and Doyeon do."

"Tell you what," Yoojung said, grabbing her purse, "we can get a super spicy and a medium, my treat."

"And bubble tea?" Lucy asked, looking hopeful.

Yoojung smiled, recognizing she was finally making some headway with snapping Lucy out of her foul mood. "And bubble tea," she agreed. "Now let's go, before it fills up."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

An hour later, Yoojung and Lucy had finished their tteokbokki and were relaxing in their booth enjoying their bubble tea. Yoojung was leaning against Lucy, who had her arm around her.

"Lucy-yah, Yoojung said, "when I found you in the living room this evening you were upset about something. Do you want to talk about it?"

Lucy took a last sip of her bubble tea and put the glass down on the table. After thinking for a minute, she shook her head. "No, it's something stupid. I shouldn't even be upset about it."

Yoojung looked up at Lucy. "But obviously you are upset about it, so why don't you let me try to help?"

Lucy looked dubious, so Yoojung smiled up at her. "C'mon," she pleaded , "let me help. What's the point of being an unnie if you never get to help?"

Lucy picked up her glass, only to remember that it was empty and then put it back down. She thought for a moment, her brow furrowed in concentration.  She then finally sighed. "I guess it can't hurt to tell you, but I don't know what you can do about it and I feel selfish for even thinking it."

Yoojung looked up at Lucy, waiting patiently for her to be ready to continue. Lucy sighed again and went on. "It's about Suyeon. I just. . ." She paused.

Yoojung tried to think of what problem Lucy might be having with Suyeon. As far as she could recall, Lucy and Suyeon hadn't quarreled about anything recently.

Finally, Lucy went on. "All this week, Suyeon's been spending all her free time with Lua. I know Lua's been really down on herself recently, and Suyeon's the best at helping her when she gets like that, but Suyeon's supposed to be my girlfriend too and I want to spend some time with her." Lucy turned her face to the wall. "See? I told you it was selfish. I shouldn't even be thinking this."

Yoojung reached up and turned Lucy's head around to face her. Even in the restaurant's dim light, she could see Lucy's eyes glistening. "I don't think you're being selfish, " she said. "Just because Lua needs Suyeon right now doesn't mean that you don't."

Yoojung finished her bubble tea and put the glass down. She fished some money out of her purse to leave a tip for the waitress. As they were putting on their coats, she said "Tell you what: We've got a couple of hours for lunch between our promos tomorrow. I'll hang out with Lua so that Suyeon's free to hang out with you. And I'll talk to Suyeon about it tonight she she'll know she's supposed to be hanging out with you."

Lucy got a panicked look on her face. "Don't tell her what I said! She'll think I'm selfish and jealous of Lua!"

Yoojung mimed buttoning her lip. "I won't tell her you and I talked about this at all. I'll just tell her something I noticed and an idea I had." Taking Lucy's hand, she said "Let's stop at the art supply store on the way home - I think we need some new sketchbooks."

Lucy smiled. As much as she complained about her unnies sometimes, sometimes she liked it when they took care of her.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Suyeon and Lua stopped at the arcade on their way home from the movie. They played several rounds of Pop-A-Shot basketball and a couple of rounds of Skee-ball. Their usual tradition at the arcade was that whoever won the most tickets got to cash in all their tickets for a prize. This night, thanks to the best round of Skee-ball either of them had ever seen, Lua ended up with almost twice as many tickets as Suyeon, so there was no question of who'd get the prize. Lua looked over all the possibilities and settled on a small stuffed animal - a white bulldog with a black collar.

As they walked home, Lua held Suyeon's hand with one hand and held the bulldog in the other hand, miming him walking along beside her and running up the stair railing.

Suyeon smiled at Lua's simple joy. "What are you going to name him?" she asked.

Lua had apparently already thought about this, because she didn't even pause. "I'm going to name him Daniel and I'm giving him to Lucy." Lua knew that Daniel Choi from Jugglers was Lucy's favorite actor.

"That's sweet," Suyeon said, smiling at her. "She'll like that."

Lua smiled, proud of herself for thinking of something that would make one of her girlfriends happy.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Lucy and Yoojung were side by side on the couch drawing. Yoojung had shown Lucy some tricks of perspective and she was feeling much more successful about her drawing. Just then they heard someone coming into the apartment. Lucy turned and looked over the back of the couch and saw that it was Suyeon and Lua.

"Hi guys," Lucy called. "How was the movie?"

"Pretty good," Suyeon said. "I don't know if you would have liked it, but I thought it was good."

While this exchange was taking place, Lua had walked around to the front of the couch.

"Lucy," she said, "I won this for you at the arcade. I named him Daniel." She handed Lucy the stuffed bulldog.

Lucy looked at the bulldog, then up at Lua. Her eyes started to glisten and her lip started to quiver. "Thank you," she said quietly. She hurriedly put her sketchbook and pencil on the table, then got up and hugged Lua. "Thank you. That was really sweet." She sniffled quietly. "Excuse me," she said, as she turned and rushed into her room, shutting the door behind her. Suyeon noticed a couple of tears running down her cheeks.

Suyeon came to stand by Lua. They both looked at Yoojung, hoping for an explanation. Yoojung looked around, wishing there was someone else who could explain what was going on.


	46. Chapter 46

Doyeon came home from makeup shopping with Sei to discover Suyeon and Yoojung sitting in her room talking. She put the bag containing her new nighttime skin care regimen down, flopped down on her bed, and looked over at them.

"OK," she said, "what's the problem now?"

"How do you know there's a problem," Yoojung asked.

"Because you two are talking rather than being joined at the lips."

Suyeon burst out laughing while Yoojung got indignant. "So I like kissing girls? Is that so wrong?"

"It's not wrong at all," Doyeon said with a chuckle, "you just take it to a whole new level. Anyway, I notice you never tried denying that there's a problem. I know it's not Sei - she just discovered a new organic undereye cream with tea tree oil and she's about as happy as I've ever seen her. That means it's Lua or Lucy."

"And," Suyeon said quietly.

"What?" Doyeon looked confused.

"We've got problems with Lua and Lucy," Yoojung said.

"I thought we fixed the problem with Lua," Doyeon said.

"Well, it's like this," Yoojung explained. "Suyeon was spending extra time with Lua to help Lua feel better about herself. Which led to Lucy feeling deprived because she wasn't getting as much attention from Suyeon as she wanted. And then when Lua found out that Lucy felt this way, she started feeling bad about it. And Lucy was already feeling selfish for wanting more time with Suyeon, so she'd feel even worse if she found out Lua was feeling bad."

"Don't forget the dog," Suyeon added.

Doyeon looked even more confused. "The dog?"

Yoojung nodded. "Lua won a stuffed dog at the arcade. She named it Daniel and gave it to Lucy. Lucy ran off crying, probably feeling guilty because Lua was thinking of making her happy while she was thinking of how to get Lua to not take up so much of Suyeon's time and attention. We tried to convince Lua that Lucy was just tired - I don't think we were successful - and she's getting a shower right now."

Doyeon had her hand to her forehead, as if just thinking about this was giving her a headache. "So correct me if I'm wrong," she said, "but it looks to me like the problem is that there just isn't enough Suyeon to go around." She looked at Suyeon. "You don't happen to have a twin sister you've never told us about, do you?"

Suyeon shook her head.

"And we're not living in a cheesy science fiction film," she went on, "so we can't just clone Suyeon." She fell silent for a minute, thinking this over. Eventually she looked up at Yoojung. "Have you thought about breaking up?"

Yoojung's jaw dropped. "What? I can't believe you'd even suggest that!"

"Well," Doyeon said, "if you and I go back to being a couple, Suyeon could date Lucy and Lua, and Sei. . . I don't know - maybe we can fix her up with Jennie from Blackpink."

Suyeon advanced on Doyeon. "You can't be serious!"

Doyeon folded her arms. "Do I look serious?"

Suyeon sputtered. "I never can tell with you!" She turned to Yoojung. "Is she serious?"

"I hope not," Yoojung said, raising her eyebrows.

"No, I'm just messing with you," Doyeon said, reaching out to take Suyeon's arm.

Suyeon jerked her arm away. "Well it wasn't funny. And don't even joke like that with the maknaes, they'd believe you and be so upset. I'm upset, and I didn't even 100 percent believe you!"

Doyeon stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Suyeon. "I'm sorry. I was joking - it's what I do when I don't know what to do, and I'm not always very good at it."

"You do have a tendency to take a joke too far," Yoojung said, putting her hand on Doyeon's shoulder.

Suyeon leaned back a little, so she could look Doyeon in the eyes. "This is all sort of your fault, anyway. You're the one who told me that Lucy was willing to leave Sei so that Sei and I could be together."

"Well, I wasn't entirely wrong," Doyeon said, trying to look endearing, "Sei did want to be with you. It just didn't happen exactly the way I said."

Suyeon wrapped her arms around Doyeon and laid her head on Doyeon's shoulder. "It did work out, but you got lucky. It could just as easily have blown up in our faces. You can't play with people's emotions like that."

"Okay," Doyeon said, holding Suyeon tighter. "I just have trouble taking things seriously sometimes."

Yoojung wrapped her arms around both of them. "Well, I think we've made a lot of progress here, but right now we're supposed to be working on Lucy and Lua, remember?"

"I'll go take care of Lucy," Suyeon said.

"I'll go keep Sei out of the way," Doyeon said.

"No," Suyeon said, "Yoojung will go keep Sei out of the way. You'll go catch Lua when she gets out of the shower; she needs someone with your kind of energy. Just, please, don't even joke about breaking up - she'd believe you and she'd think it was her fault."

"Sounds like the shower's stopped," Doyeon said. "We'd better get going."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Suyeon let herself into Lucy and Rina's room and closed the door behind herself. She stood holding on to the doorknob, giving her eyes a chance to adjust to the darkness.

She heard a sniffle from in front of her. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to come see you," Suyeon said.

"Well you shouldn't," Lucy said. "You deserve better."

Suyeon carefully took a step forward, nudging some clothes our of her way with her foot. "What makes you think that?"

"Because I'm selfish and horrible," Lucy said as she turned over to face the wall.

By this time Suyeon had reached the bed. She sat down on the bed and started rubbing Lucy's back. "Well, I dont think you're selfish or horrible," she said, trying to sound reassuring.

Lucy rolled over and tried to see Suyeon through the gloom. "Well you should, because I am. You were trying to make Lua feel better and all I could think about was that I wanted you to spend more time with me."

"That wasn't all you were thinking about," Suyeon said, trying to lay her hand on Lucy's shoulder and grabbing her by the throat instead. "If all you were thinking about was yourself, then you wouldn't have felt bad about doing it. The fact that you did feel bad shows that you were thinking of the rest of us, whether you realized it or not."

"Well it still felt like I was being selfish," Lucy said, rolling over and turning on the lamp on her bedside table. Her eyes were red from crying. "And then you and Lua came home and she'd won that dog for me. That was so sweet. Lua's always so sweet and I feel like I can never measure up."

Suyeon laid down next to Lucy and cuddled up to her. "Just suppose for a second that you are as horrible as you think you are. Would I be in here trying to make you feel better, or would I just say 'screw it' and break up with you."

"Maybe you should break up with me," Lucy said. She looked into Suyeon's eyes. "Maybe you're just a bad judge of girlfriends."

"Well, I don't think I am," Suyeon said, leaning down to kiss Lucy on the forehead. "But even if I was, do you think Doyeon and Yoojung and Sei and Lua would all have such horrible judgment too?"

Lucy let out a small giggle. "I suppose not. It doesn't seem very likely."

"Not likely at all," Suyeon agreed. "Now, do you believe me that you're not horrible, or do I have to stay here and convince you?"

"I guess I'm not that horrible," Lucy said quietly, "but I still wish you'd stay."

"Well," Suyeon said, hugging Lucy a little tighter, "you're in luck. Doyeon's taking care of Lua, and Yoojung's keeping Sei out of the way, and Rina and Elly can take care of themselves, and they aren't even part of OT6 anyway, so that means I've got nothing to do right now but spend time with you, which is what I want to do anyway."

Lucy snuggled in closer to Suyeon, who started stroking her hair. "Though I do think," Suyeon said, "that you should cut all of us a little slack - yourself included. We're all new at having five girlfriends, so we're going to screw it up sometimes."

"But what if you all lose patience with me? What if I keep screwing up?"

"Hmmmmm," Suyeon said, putting on an air of thinking deeply. "How long did it take Rina to learn to cook something besides kimchi fried rice?"

"She still hasn't learned," Lucy said, looking at Suyeon, her puzzlement written plainly on her face. "I don't get it."

"And have we given up on her?"

"No," Lucy said, "but that's different. That's-"

Whatever Lucy had been about to say was cut off by Suyeon kissing her. Once Lucy had stopped trying to talk, Suyeon pulled her head back and said, "I'm not giving up on you, and neither are any of your other girlfriends. But we need you to do your part and not give up on yourself."

"I'll try," Lucy said. "It's just hard sometimes."

"It'll get easier," Suyeon said, tucking a stray strand of Lucy's hair behind her ear.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Lua came dancing out of the shower, obviously trying to cheer up, though the redness of her eyes showed how unsuccessful she had been.

"Hey there!" Doyeon called out from the couch. "Ready to stop crying and come watch the game with me?"

"I think so," Lua said, rubbing her eyes as she dashed over to curl up next to Doyeon. "I wish my eyes didn't get so red when I cried," she said.

"Well, I think it's a good thing," Doyeon said, kissing Lua on the tip of her nose.

Lua looked skeptical. "I shed one tear, my eyes look like I've just attended a string to funerals, and that's a good thing?"

Doyeon nodded. "It makes it obvious to us that you've been crying, and since we don't like to see that, we try to keep you from crying."

"But you can't do that!" Lua protested. "Sometimes I need to cry, and no amount of you all trying to fix me is going to make it not happen!"

"Just like no amount of you trying to fix it is going to make Lucy not cry when she needs to."

Lua's eyes narrowed. "This is one of those 'unnie teaches a lesson in a sneaky way' things, isn't it?"

"Why?" Doyeon asked, doing her best to look innocent. "Are you learning a lesson?"

Lua flounced and leaned against Doyeon. "I can't wait until I'm an unnie and have all the answers," she said.

Doyeon laughed. "You really think we've got all the answers?"

Lua nodded tentatively. "It sure seems like it."

Doyeon started laughing even harder. "We're faking our way through it - we've just had more time to make mistakes so we know in advance what doesn't work!"

Lua joined in Doyeon's laughter. She didn't really understand the humor in what Doyeon was saying, but it felt good to laugh along with any of her members. Especially Doyeon, though.

"You've got such a beautiful laugh," Lua said, smiling at Doyeon.

Doyeon blushed and tried to stop laughing. "I always thought I laughed too loud," she said. "My mother would tell me it's 'not ladylike'." Doyeon's impression of her mother made Lua start laughing again.

"Maybe it's not ladylike," Lua said when she was finally able to control her laughter again, "but it's still one of my favorite things about you. It's like you can't keep your happiness inside but you just have to share it."

Doyeon chuckled. "Maybe you can talk to my mother," she said.

"Gooooooaaaaaallllllllllll," the TV announcer's shout broke into their conversation.

"Who's winning?" Lua asked.

Doyeon shrugged. "I don't even know who's playing. The game was just a distraction to keep you out here."

"Well, it worked." Lua grabbed Doyeon's arm and put it around her as she cuddled into Doyeon's side. "I'm still worried about Lucy, though. Do you think I need to apologize to her?"

Doyeon looked at her. "Do you think you did anything wrong?"

Lua shook her head. "No. But I don't want her to feel bad."

"Well," Doyeon said, reaching down and tickling Lua, "unless you've got a magic knob that controls Lucy's emotions, you're just going to have to let her feel however she feels. You didn't do anything wrong. It was Suyeon's choice to spend as much time with you as she did - that wasn't wrong either. We just all have to get used to the idea that there's never going to be enough time to spend as much time with all of our girlfriends as we want. We'll just have to try to manage things so that no one feels neglected." She looked significantly at Lucy's door. "And we've got to learn to speak up when we're feeling neglected, and that there's nothing wrong with that."

"I'm feeling neglected," Lua said, pouting.

"You are?" Doyeon thought of all the time Suyeon had spent with Lua over the past week and wondering how she could still be feeling neglected.

Lua nodded. "I feel like my girlfriend Doyeon's neglecting me by not kissing me enough."

Doyeon laughed again. "I think we can remedy that," she said.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Yoojung had told Sei what was going on, and they were waiting in Sei's room for Suyeon and Doyeon to fix the issues with Lucy and Lua before they came out for ice cream.

"I hope this doesn't take too long," Sei said. "I want some ice cream."

Yoojung rolled her eyes. "You always want ice cream!"

Sei laughed. "They why are you surprised that I want some now?"

Yoojung laughed along with her, then they crouched by the door to try to hear what was going on out in the living room. Not to hear what anyone was saying - that would be eavesdropping - just enough that they'd know that no one was crying when they came out for ice cream. But the expected wave of crying never came. Instead, they heard Doyeon laughing, then Lua joining in.

"Suyeon was right," Yoojung said to herself in amazement.

Sei looked at her, confused. "Suyeon was right about what?"

Yoojung shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "She said Lua needed someone with Doyeon's energy, and apparently she was right - I wouldn't be laughing if I was out there with Lua right now, and apparently that's what she needs."

Sei smiled. "Suyeon's so smart where people are concerned. I'm glad she's our girlfriend."

Yoojung nodded in agreement. "Well," she said, "things have gotten quiet out there. Shall we go get some ice cream?"

"Sure!" Sei agreed.

They opened the room and quietly stepped out. Looking toward the living room, they saw Lua and Doyeon making out on the couch. Yoojung signalled for Sei to be quiet, and they tiptoed into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'd say she's feeling better," Sei said with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

From inside the freezer, Yoojung laughed quietly. "We've got chocolate and vanilla ice cream," she said, peeking out to hear Sei's answer.

"Vanilla," Sei said decisively. "We've got some chocolate syrup out here, so we can make sundaes."

Yoojung thoughtfully weighed the ice cream in her hands. "You know what'd be cool?" she asked. "If we made sundaes for everybody!"

Sei giggled quietly and went to get some more bowls out of the cabinet. They scooped ice cream into each bowl, then topped it with chocolate syrup.

"I wish we had some whipped cream and chopped nuts," Sei said as they surveyed their handiwork, "but you can't have everything."

"It'll be fine," Yoojung said. "Just watch." Then she took a deep breath and yelled "Lucy! Lua! Doyeon! Suyeon! We've got ice cream sundaes for you in the kitchen!"

Almost before Sei had time to blink, the kitchen was full of girls laughing, talking, kissing, and eating. From across the room, Yoojung called out to her "See? I told you it'd be fine!" Sei didn't respond - she was too busy laughing and feeding ice cream to Suyeon.


	47. Chapter 47

Elly and Suyeon were enjoying a few minutes of quiet before waking up the rest of their members.

"So how are things going with your group?" Elly asked.

Suyeon thought for a moment. "They're going pretty well. We've still got a lot to learn, but we're figuring it out. How are things going with you and Rina?"

Elly nodded. "Good. I think she's finally starting to believe that Lucy's not going to try to convince us to join an OT8."

"That's good," Suyeon said. "I think we've got Lucy convinced not to try to convince you guys to join us."

Elly laughed. "So apparently keeping our maknaes happy is the secret to happiness."

Suyeon nodded. "Apparently so." She looked at the clock. "It's about time to wake everyone up. How about you start in the maknaes' room and I'll start with Doyeon and Yoojung, and whoever finishes first will wake up Sei and Lua."

Elly downed the rest of her tea and hopped up. "Sound good," she said, heading off to the maknae's room.

Suyeon headed to Doyeon and Yoojung's room. She tried knocking on the door first, but no got no response, so she let herself in. Doyeon and Yoojung were both in Doyeon's bed, holding each other as they slept.

"Good morning!" Suyeon said. They stirred slightly but stayed asleep. Suyeon sat down on the bed next to them and started trying to wake them, alternating between gently shaking them and rubbing their arms. "Wake up, sleepyheads. We've got promotions today."

Yoojung swatted ineffectually at Suyeon. "Go 'way," she said. "Trying to sleep."

Suyeon started shaking them again. "Nope, you've got to get up. We've got a performance at a shopping mall today, then a radio interview, then we're going to be on TV."

Yoojung shook her head. "It's just a small channel. We can skip it. Tell Manager-nim we're asleep."

"Nope. You've got to get up." She started shaking them more vigorously. "Come on. You're supposed to be setting a good example for the maknaes."

Doyeon and Yoojung opened their eyes, looked at each others, and nodded. "Get her!" Doyeon yelled. She and Yoojung reached up, grabbed Suyeon, and pulled her into the bed between them. They were in the process of covering her face with kisses when Sei stumbled in, still rubbing her eyes.

"I thought you were supposed to be setting a good example for the maknaes," she said sleepily.

Suyeon struggled to sit up. "We're trying. We're demonstrating loving wakeup techniques."

"Yeah right," Sei said with a laugh. "Anyway, Lua's already in the shower. You'd better hurry if you want to have any hot water."

Apparently that did the trick: Doyeon and Yoojung jumped and ran toward the bathroom. Sei reached down and pulled Suyeon out of the bed, helping her get untangled from the sheets. "Looks like you need to be taking lessons from the maknaes," she said with an impish grin.

Suyeon laughed sheepishly. "Apparently so."

Sei looked at the clock on Yoojung's nightstand. "I wish we had time to make congee for breakfast," she said with a pout. "I'm going to go put on water for tea."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

The day's promotions went miserably. At the mall performance, Suyeon's cast made a thumping noise on the stage that threw off everyone's timing. At the radio interview, everyone kept getting tongue-tied and making them sound bad. But the worst was the TV appearance. It was a variety show on a small regional network. The hosts apparently thought they were destined to be the next Jeong Hyeong-don and Defconn, and they just weren't. Their timing was awful, their jokes were annoying, and their "flirtatious" banter was bordering on offensive. Suyeon had never been so glad to leave a promo as when they climbed into the van after that appearance.

"Ugh!" Lua said, shuddering. "I feel like I need a shower after that."

"I know, right?" Sei chimed in. "Those hosts were the worst."

"Manager-nim, please tell us we'll never have to go on that show again!" Yoojung pleaded.

"I can't promise that, but I'll do what I can," Manager-nim promised. She couldn't guarantee that the girls would never have to work with those creeps again, but she could definitely see to it that this show got the worst schedule in every promotion.

"At least if we do see them again, it won't be until next promotion," Suyeon said. The girls all cheered at this.

The drive back to the dorm was so long that they ended up stopping for dinner on the way home. The only place they could find was a small noodle shop, which was fine with everyone, but it meant the restaurant was too small to have a private dining room that they could use. Consequently, during the course of their meals, Ki-Lings came up to their table, apologized for interrupting their dinner, and asked for autographs or photos with the members. Despite all these interruptions, everything went fine until they heard a shriek from the direction of the restrooms. Lucy came running from that direction, her face pale. Suyeon tried to calm her down as Lucy yelled "A sasaeng tried to force his way into the bathroom with me!"

Through the window of the restaurant, they could see a figure in a black hoodie scampering away. Meanwhile, the owner of the restaurant came out and began apologizing profusely, an apology that he had difficulty getting out because Manager-nim was simultaneously berating him: "What kind of management is this? Is this how you protect guests in your establishment? What kind of man are you?" After a few minutes of this, Manager-nim shepherded the girls back into the van and they got back on the road.

Suyeon did her best to comfort Lucy, who was choking back sobs and seemed on the verge of collapsing into hysterics. As Suyeon's best efforts did little to restore Lucy's equilibrium, she suggested a call to Alice-sunbae from Hellovenus. Nodding, Lucy pulled out her phone.

"Hello, Alice-sunbae? It's Lucy. Do you have a minute?" The others sat quietly as Lucy used the phone, watching the freeway scroll by. Lucy told Alice the story of what had happened, and the others couldn't hear what Alice said in response, but apparently it helped, because Lucy sniffled a couple of time and then was, if not back to her usual self, at least better.

"Thank you for protecting us, Manager-nim," Lucy said.

Not taking her eyes from the road, Manager-nim said "It's part of what I'm here for. But apparently you're getting famous enough that I'll have to talk to the agency and try to convince them to hire you a bodyguard to travel with us."

The members all thanked Manager-nim for this attention to their safely, then split up into little groups talking quietly. Holding tightly to Suyeon's arm, Lucy laid her head on Suyeon's shoulder and fell asleep, apparently exhausted by the ordeal. Suyeon quietly stroked her hair from time to time, brushing it out of her face whenever it fell forward. She kept thinking about what had happened. She knew sasaengs were a part of life as an idol, but why did they have to have one today, when they were already feeling bad because of the bad TV promo? And why did it have to be Lucy? Suyeon felt unlucky, and wondered if there was anything she should have done differently to protect her members.

As if reading Suyeon's thoughts, Yoojung reached over and patted her hand. "You did everything right," she said. "These things just happen sometimes."

Suyeon knew Yoojung was right, but it didn't stop her from wishing she could protect her members better.


	48. Chapter 48

"Lucy, I need you to come with me!" Lua's voice stopped just short of whining. She really needed Lucy's help, and all the maknae wanted to do was sit on the couch and draw. It had been a week since Lucy's encounter with a sasaeng at the noodle shop, and in the time she hadn't left the apartment except to go to work. But today Lua really needed someone else to help her run an important errand.

"Isn't there someone else who can help you?"

Lua walked over and sat down by Lucy. "There's really not. Elly and Rina are out shopping. The unnies are in meetings with the company. And we can't ask Sei to go do the shopping for her own birthday party."

"Um. . ." Lucy looked nervously at the apartment door. "Maybe the unnies will be back soon."

Lua shook her head. "Suyeon said they'd be in meetings all day. They've got to plan the rest of the "Crush" promos and start planning for our next comeback. And even if they do get back before the bakery closes, they'll be too tired to go with me." She reached out and took Lucy's hand. "I know you're nervous, but I'll be there with you. You'll be safe."

Lucy shuddered. "I want to go. I really do. But I just can't. Every time I think about going out, I remember that sasaeng's face."

Lua squeezed Lucy's hand tighter. "You've got this, Lucy. You can do this. And you know there are a lot of Ki-lings who live in the neighborhood around the dorm - there will be lots of people watching out for us."

Lucy glanced at the door again and swallowed nervously. "And you'll be with me the whole time?" she asked, her vulnerability visible on her face.

"The whole time," Lucy said, nodding vigorously. "We've got to go to the bakery, the ice cream shop, and the party supply store."

"We should go to the party supply story before the ice cream shop, so the ice cream won't have as much time to melt."

"Good idea," Lua said. "So you'll try to go? For Sei?"

Lucy looked nervously at the door and swallowed, then nodded nervously. "I'll try," she said, "for Sei."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Lua and Lucy were leaving the bakery, with Lucy carrying the small chocolate cake they'd picked out for Sei's birthday, when suddenly Lucy stopped short in the middle of the sidewalk, her eyes wide. Lua looked ahead to see what had caught Lucy's attention and the culprit was obvious.

Lua grabbed Lucy's arm and tried to urge her forward. "Come on, Lucy," she said. "It's just a guy in a black hoodie. Not every guy in a black hoodie is a sasaeng. Besides, he's walking away from the and look, he just went into the barbershop up ahead."

Lucy nodded and swallowed, trying to get her fear under control. She took one deep breath, then two. "OK, I think I can go on," she said, her voice trembling.

"Tell you what," Lua said, "how about I carry the cake and you can hold on to my arm?"

Lucy nodded and handed the cake to Lua. "That sounds good." She held on to Lua's arm and got ready to go.

"Next stop, the party supply store!" Lua said.

Lucy nodded. "Okay." She took one step forward, then another, and soon they were walking down the sidewalk at a normal pace again. "I can do this," Lucy said. "I got this."

"You're doing great," Lua said. "I'm so proud of you."

By this time they had arrived at the party supply store. Lua asked the cashier if she could leave Sei's cake at the counter while they picked out the things they needed. Once she had her hands free, she pulled the shopping list out of her pocket. "OK, we need party hats and napkins and candles and a cake cutter."

They start gathering up the supplies they needed for Sei's party. At one point, Lucy got caught up looking at a display of decorated chopsticks, but Lua didn't notice and kept walking. She was halfway down the aisle before she noticed that Lucy wasn't next to her. She stopped and looked back at Lucy, who had just realized that she was by herself in the middle of the store. She took a deep breath and looked around. She didn't spot Lua at first, but then she did. She took another deep breath and started walking down the aisle. Lua could tell that Lucy wanted to run down the aisle toward her but was deliberately controlling herself. When Lucy reached her, Lua rubbed her shoulder and said, "Good job! I didn't notice you had stopped, but you handled it just fine."

Lucy laughed at the same time as she blinked back tears. "I feel so ridiculous. Being scared of getting lost in the store is something that happens to little kids. I feel stupid."

"Now stop that," Lua said, putting on her sternest face. "You're not ridiculous and you're certainly not stupid. You had a bad experience, but you're getting better. And you're going to keep getting better and better."

Lucy stood up a little taller. "Yeah. I can do this. Just a week ago I could do it, so that means I can do it now. I'm not going to let that guy make me afraid of everything."

Lua beamed. She was so proud of Lucy for making this breakthrough. "You've got it! Let's go pay for these and then we can go get the ice cream and go home." She was so proud of Lucy's accomplishment that she didn't pay close attention to what she was doing and grabbed the wrong candles - a 2 and a 1 instead of a 1 and a 9.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

The unnies were back when Lucy and Lua got back to the apartment, and so were Elly and Rina. Suyeon met them at the door of the apartment.

"Go straight to the kitchen and put the candles in the cake," she said. "We'll go ahead and have the party right now."

Lucy and Lua started getting things ready. When Lua took the candles out of the bag, she noticed her mistake. "What do we do?" she asked Lucy.

"Put them in to make 21. Hopefully Sei won't even notice."

"And if she does notice?" Lua asked.

"Then we own up to the mistake and have her go ahead and blow out the candles anyway. Think about it - with cake and ice cream and all our attention on her, do you really think Sei will be concerned about a little thing like correct numbers?" Lucy took the 2 candle out of Lua's hand and started unwrapping it.

Shrugging, Lua started unwrapping the 1. They put the candles in the cake and got some matches ready to light them. Lucy peeked out of the kitchen and got Suyeon's attention.

"You ready?" Suyeon mouthed from the living room.

Lucy nodded vigorously.

"Okay everyone!" Suyeon called out at a volume that made Rina jump in surprise. "Time to go celebrate Sei's birthday!"

Everyone clustered around Sei and ushered her into the kitchen. As Lucy put a birthday hat on Sei, Lua lit the candles and everyone started singing "Happy Birthday."

"You guys!" Sei sniffled a litltle and wiped her eyes. "I wasn't expecting all this!"

"Do you really think we'd let you celebrate your nineteenth birthday without cake and ice cream?" Suyeon asked, looking confusedly at the "21" candles on the cake.

Sei made a wish and blew the candles out. Then she took the candles out of the cake and started cutting pieces for everyone while Lua served the ice cream.

Suddenly Yoojung came up and kissed Sei on the cheek. "Happy birthday!" she said.

Then Suyeon kissed Sei, then Lua, Lucy, then Doyeon - several times. Then, to everyone's surprise, Rina leaned forward and kissed Sei. Rina looked at Elly, but Elly had suddenly gotten shy and was hanging back. Finally, Yoojung grabbed Elly by one arm and Rina grabbed her by the other and they pushed Elly forward and basically forced her to kiss Sei.

Sei looked around at everyone. "This is the best birthday I've ever had!" Sudden she gasped and put her hand over her mouth. "Lucy! Did you go shopping with Lua for the party stuff?"

Lucy sat up straight and nodded proudly. "Yes I did."

Sei jumped up and enveloped Lucy in a big hug. "I'm so proud of you. I know you could do it."

"Well, I didn't, until I actually did it," Lucy said. "Lua gets a lot of credit for making me go and for being patient with me while we were out."

Without letting go of Lucy, Sei leaned over and kissed Lua. "Good job, sweetie," she said.

Lua looked at Lucy, then at Sei. "We just wanted to be sure you had a happy birthday."

Smiling, Sei looked around at everyone. "I did. I definitely did. Thank you all so much!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want, you can see footage of Sei's real birthday party at https://www.vlive.tv/video/107836 - I borrowed some parts of it for the story. (If you're impatient with the video, the kissing starts at around 44 minutes.)


	49. Chapter 49

The next week was fairly routine: Practices, promos, radio interviews. Lucy managed to keep herself from asking Manager-nim about the bodyguard. The others hoped she'd forgotten about it, but Sei wasn't so sure.

"She hasn't forgotten about it," Sei told Suyeon one night as they were trying to get to sleep.

"How can you be so sure?" Suyeon asked.

"First of all, because it's Lucy - she never forgets about anything." Sei rolled over to face Suyeon. "And second, because have you seen her when we walk down the street? Her eyes are constantly moving, checking out each and every person as if she could see if they're a sasaeng."

Suyeon wrapped her arm around Sei. "Okay, so she hasn't forgotten about it. What do we do now?"

Sei shrugged. "I don't know. I keep hoping she'll just get over it, but so far nothing. . ." Sei buried her face in the crook of Suyeon's neck. "I feel so bad for her. She's still so scared. She tries to hide it, but I can tell."

"Well," Suyeon said, leaning over and kissing Sei on the forehead, "we'll figure something out to help her. We've got a surprise coming tomorrow. Maybe that will take her mind off of it."

Sei looked up, her face excited. "A surprise? What? What is it?"

Suyeon shook her head. "I promised Manager-nim I wouldn't tell."

"But we find out tomorrow?" Sei asked.

Suyeon nodded. "Tomorrow before lunch."

"Then why not go ahead and tell me? Manager-nim would never know!"

"Maybe she'd never know, but someone would know. Anyway, I promised Manager-nim."

"How would someone know that you told me?" Sei asked indignantly. "I wouldn't tell anyone."

"You'd try not to," Suyeon said, "but you're no good at keeeping secrets. You'd get up first tomorrow morning, because you almost always get up first. Someone else would get up - probably one of your girlfriends, probably Lucy - and she'd look at you and could tell just from looking at your face that you've got a secret. Then she'd ask you what the secret was, and you wouldn't be able to resist telling her. You be all 'I'm not supposed to tell you but. . .'"

Sei laughed at Suyeon's impression of her. "OK, so it probably would go something like that. But I'd try to keep it a secret."

"Not good enough," Suyeon said with a laugh.

"Anyway, what are we going to do about Lucy?" Sei asked.

"I don't know yet," Suyeon said. "I'm hoping this surprise will help snap her out of it, because if not, I've got no ideas."

"Well," Sei said, wrapping her arm around Suyeon, "I'm sure if we need an idea, you'll come up with one - you always do."

Suyeon lay awake long after Sei had gone to sleep. "I hope you're right, Sei," Suyeon said to herself. "I really hope you are."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

The next morning, Sei woke up well before everyone else. Before sunrise, even. She went for a run, then came back and saw a light on in the kitchen.

"Oh good," she thought, "someone else is up."

She took off her shoes and padded into the kitchen. "Good mo-"

Lucy's shreik interrupted Sei's greeting. She dropped her cup of tea and spun around.

"Lucy, it's just me!" Sei said, moving forward to try to calm Lucy down.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Lucy yelled.

"I'm sorry - I didn't mean to sneak up at you," Sei said, bending down to pick up Lucy's teacup. Miraculously, it wasn't broken.

Lucy grabbed a towel off the counter and started wiping up the tea on the floor. "No, I'm sorry," she said, swabbing angrily at the tea. "I shouldn't still be so scared of everything like that." She wiped up the last of the tea and then threw the soggy towel in the hamper.

Sei finished refilling the kettle and turned it on, then turned around to face Lucy. "Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. You're getting better." She crossed the kitchen and wrapped her arms around Lucy. "You're going to be okay."

"But when?" Lucy asked, looking down at Sei. "I want to be better now."

"I don't know when," Sei admitted, shaking her head. "Maybe you don't see it, because you're always with yourself, but the rest of us see it. Yesterday you went to the grocery store by yourself."

Lucy snorted and rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, because that worked so well. I got to the grocery store and then couldn't get up the nerve to go in. Yoojung had to walk down to the grocery store and help me finish the shopping."

"All right, so it wasn't perfect." Sei gently stroked the side of Lucy's face. "But it was better - a week ago you wouldn't even leave the dorm by yourself." Sei looked around and nervously chewed her bottom lip. "I've got a secret to share with you, if you promise not to tell."

Intrigued, Lucy nodded. "I promise."

Sei looked around again, wanting to make sure that they were alone. "Manager-nim told Suyeon that we're getting a surprise this morning, before lunch."

Lucy's eyes got huge. "Really? What is it? What is it?"

Sei looked excitedly back at Lucy, then suddenly her face fell. "I don't know. Suyeon wouldn't tell me."

Lucy started laughing and couldn't stop. In between peals of laughter, she managed to gasp out "Sei, that is most weak-sauce secret I've ever heard!"

Sei looked around nervously, unsure whether to be happy or worried about the way Lucy was laughing. She was spared the need to make a decision by Lua coming into the kitchen.

"What's all the noise about?" Lua asked, her eyes barely open.

Lucy struggled to get her laughter under control. Finally, she was able to say "Sei just told me the most ridiculous secret ever!"

Lua perked up. "A secret! Sei, can you tell me?"

Sei rolled her eyes. "Fine, but you can't tell anyone else." She stared pointed at Lua to try to get across how serious she was. "We're going to get a surprise from Manager-nim before lunch today."

Lua waited, expecting Sei to go on. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "And the surprise is . . ." she prompted.

"She doesn't know!" Lucy exclaimed as she started laughing again.

Lua looked back and forth between Lucy and Sei, waiting for someone to let her in on the joke. When no one said anything, she said "Fine. Well, I'm going back to sleep. Try not to be so noisy." Then she turned and shuffled back to her bed.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Manager-nim showed up later that morning and called them all into the living room. They gathered eagerly, waiting to hear what their surprise was.

"You're going to go to back to Japan for 3 days of promos!" Manager-nim said excitedly.

Everyone began talking excitedly, thrilled at the prospect. Everyone except Lucy. She got quiet and looked around, on the verge of panic Suyeon reached over and grabbed hold of her hands.

"It's going to be okay," Suyeon mouthed. "Say it with me. It's going to be okay."

Lucy mouthed the words along with Suyeon, but the fear still stayed in her eyes.

Sei reached over and rubbed Lucy's arm. "You loved Japan last time we were there. I bet we'll get to eat sushi again."

Lucy nodded and did her best to put on a smile. Manager-nim had been being peppered with questions by Doyeon and Yoojung, but if she could ever get her attention away from them, Lucy would be conspicuous if she wasn't acting happy about this trip abroad. Manager-nim might decide she was ill and had to stay in the dorm while the rest of the group went to Japan - that would be even worse than going. Besides, Sei was right: Lucy had loved Japan. She made up her mind to enjoy this trip. Finally she was able to put on a genuine smile. "You're right," she said. "This is going to be great!" After that, there was nothing you could see that would give a clue that Lucy wasn't looking forward to the trip to Japan as much as the rest of the girls. Only Suyeon wasn't fooled.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Two days later they were at the airport, their bags had been checked and they were getting ready to go through security. Manager-nim told them good-bye right before the security checkpoint.

"Wait," Lucy said, "aren't you coming with us, Manager-nim?"

Manager-nim shook her head. "I've got some things to take care of here. Manager-san will meet you when your plane lands."

Lucy nodded. The mention of Manager-san made her feel more confident. He had been a sumo wrestler before becoming a music manager, and even though he was smaller now than he had been at his fighting peak, he was still a solid wall of muscle. Lucy couldn't imagine the sasaeng who could get past Manager-san - or who would even be crazy enough to try.

Once they got through the security checkpoint, Suyeon handed out their boarding passes, which also had their seat assignments on them. This led to a flurry of comparing seat assignments to see who was sitting with who. There must have been some sort of mistake, though: While the rest of the group was assigned to a block of seats toward the front of the plane, Lucy was all by herself at the back of the plane.

"I'll take care of this," Suyeon said. Taking Lucy's boarding pass, she marched over and began talking with the gate agent. Talking soon devolved to arguing, and at one point Suyeon even pulled out her phone, no doubt threatening to call Manager-nim. Finally, the gate agent took the boarding passes out of Suyeon's hands, printed out two new passes, and thrust them at her. Suyeon smiled sweetly at the gate agent, bowed respectfully, and returned to the group. Handing Lucy her new boarding pass, she said "Not only are you and I sitting together, but we got upgraded to first class." Smiling at the rest of the band, she said "Have fun in coach, peasants!" They all laughed at Suyeon's impression of a first class passenger.

The intercom crackled to life. "First class passengers for flight 1100 from Seoul to Tokyo should begin boarding now."

"Well, that's us," Suyeon said. "See you all at the other end!" Taking Lucy's arm, the two of them walked onto the plane.

Once all the first class passengers were settled in their seats, the coach passengers boarded. Suyeon and Lucy got high fives from all their members as they headed toward their seats. Sei caught Lucy's eye and mouthed "Are you OK?" Lucy nodded and smiled, the first geniune smile Sei had seen from her since Manager-nim had announced the Japan trip.

Once they were airborn, the flight attendant in first class began handing out champagne and snacks. Lucy almost didn't accept the glass of champagne, but at Suyeon's urging took it. She nervously took a small sip and discovered she liked the taste. "But I'm not old enough to drink legally," she whispered to Suyeon.

"That's okay. You look like you are, and it's not like they're going to be checking IDs in mid-air. Enjoy!" Suyeon raised her glass in a toast to Lucy, who returned the gesture.

"It's really good!" Lucy said, taking another sip.

Just then the flight attendant came by. "We'll begin serving lunch in about 45 minutes," she said. "Can I get you something to snack on until then."

"We'll be fine," Suyeon said. "Thank you." The attendant bowed and left them to enjoy their champagne.

"You look like you're feeling better," Suyeon said.

Lucy nodded. "I am. I had forgotten about Manager-san until Manager-nim mentioned him this morning. Nothing could possibly happen with him around - he's like a manager and a bodyguard rolled into one."

"He's as big as a manager and bodyguard rolled into one," Suyeon said. They both laughed at this.

Their lunch, when it came, was delicious: Two kinds of fish, plus beef, plus vegetables, plus chocolate mousse for desert. After they had eaten, they refused the offer of a second glass of champagne, but did have a cup of green tea. Lucy checked the time on her phone. "We've got about an hour until we land. It's not enough time to watch a movie - do you mind if I take a nap?"

"No, go ahead," Suyeon said, and with that Lucy laid her head on Suyeon's shoulder and promptly fell asleep.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

As they had expected, their time in Japan was great. Their promos went well, the Japanese Ki-lings were excited to see them, and Manager-san took them out for sushi every night. Their last night in Japan, they had finished eating sushi, the older members were drinking sake and the younger members were drinking tea. Lucy asked Manager-san if he could take them to see sumo wrestling next time they were in Japan. He said he'd try. Suyeon and Sei exchanged glances - it was great to see Lucy wanting to go out and do things again.

When they got back to Seoul the next day, Manager-nim was waiting for them at the airport. "How was your time in Japan?" she asked.

"Great!" Lucy said. "Manager-san said next time we go back he's going to try to take us to a sumo tournament."

Manager-nim looked confused. "And you want this?"

Lucy nodded enthusiastically. Manager-nim shrugged as if to say "OK, if that's what you want," then turned and led the way out to the van.

When they pulled up in front of the dorm, Manager-nim opened the door of the van to let them out. "Try to get some rest today - you've got a big day tomorrow."

"Oh? What's happening tomorrow?" Lucy asked.

Manager-nim pulled out her phone and checked their calendar. "Dance practice, voice lessons, two radio interviews, and a TV appearance."

"Sounds great!" Lucy said, jumping out of the van.

"Looks like we've got our old Lucy back!" Sei whispered to Suyeon.


	50. Chapter 50

Doyeon was discontented. She didn't know why, but for some reason things just didn't feel right to her. Since they had the afternoon off, she had time to do something about this, if only she could think of what to do. She went into the kitchen and looked around, but she wasn't hungry. She saw some of her members watching a movie, but she didn't want to watch a movie. Yoojung was reading and Sei was experimenting with makeup, but neither of those things seemed appealing to her either. Finally she decided to put on her shoes and go for a run.

When she got to the park, she stretched and warmed up, then took off running around the lake. As she ran, she turned over the discontented feeling she had, trying to figure out what was making her feel this way. When she reached the halfway point, she was still not closer to figuring things out. Frustrated with herself, she began to run faster. Feeling the air burning in her lungs, she pushed herself and ran faster. When she made it around the lake, she decided to push herself through another lap. But about a third of the way into the second lap she ran out of energy. She staggered to a halt on the side of the path, resting her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. As she stood there, struggling to breathe, she began to understand why she was feeling this way. She started rushing back to the dorm, pressing the heel of her hand against her ribs where she had gotten a stitch in her side.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to their apartment, she stopped and looked up. The way she felt, she might as well have been trying to climb a mountain instead of a couple of flights of stairs. Sighing grimly, she grabbed the railing and started making her way up. When she finally reached the floor containing Weki Meki's apartment, her legs felt rubbery, like they were going to give out. She stopped outside the apartment for a minute, tried to catch her breath, then went inside.

The first person she saw when she went inside was Suyeon, who was apparently on her way to the kitchen to get some water. Turning to greet Doyeon, her face fell.

"Doyeon, what's wrong? You look horrible!" Suyeon took a step forward, her concern for Doyeon written clearly on her face.

Doyeon closed the distance between herself and Suyeon, then wrapped her arms around her unnie in a big hug. Finally her self-control ran out and she started crying. "Suyeon, I'm so sorry," she said, tears running down her face. "So, so, so sorry!"

Confused, Suyeon wrapped her arms around Doyeon, awkwardly stroking her hand in an attempt to comfort her. "It's okay. It's okay. What are you sorry about? I don't understand."

Doyeon lifted her head from Suyeon's shoulder and looked Suyeon in the eyes. "I'm sorry I tricked you into trying to take Sei away from Lucy. I wasn't thinking about what was good for people and I caused so much pain!"

Suyeon nodded. "It's okay," she said, hugging Doyeon tighter. "It's okay. You weren't trying to hurt people, and in the end, it turned out to all be for the good. If I wouldn't have tried to take Sei away from Lucy, lots of things never would have happened and we wouldn't have OT6 right now." Suyeon could feel Doyeon shaking as sobs wracked her body.

Just then Lucy walked in. Looking curiously at Suyeon and Doyeon, she asked "What's wrong with Doyeon-unnie?"

Suyeon gestured for Lucy to come closer and join her in wrapping her arms around Doyeon. As she did, Doyeon turned in their arms and wrapped her arms around Lucy. "Lucy, I'm so sorry!" she wailed.

Lucy looked confused. "Sorry for what?"

Doyeon looked up at her. "For tricking Suyeon into breaking up you and Sei." Tears were running down her face and soaking the front of her shirt.

"It's okay. Really!" Lucy said. "I was angry for a while, but never really angry at you, and besides, it all worked out well in the end."

Doyeon's legs gave out from under her and she collapsed to the floor. "You all are too good for me," she said, curling up on the floor. Suyeon and Lucy got down on the floor next to her and did their best to comfort her, but she was inconsolable.

Suddenly, Lucy had an idea. "I'll be right back," she said and ran into the other room.

"What? Where are you going?" Suyeon looked confusedly after her, doing her best to comfort Doyeon on her own, to no avail. She didn't have to struggle for long, though. In just a minute Lucy was back, and she'd brought Sei, Lua, and Yoojung with her. They all got down on the floor and helped to comfort Doyeon.

Doyeon apologized to each of them in turn. Finally, she managed to stop crying quite so much, and said "I know I've apologized to all of you for this before, but that was mainly because Udon made me do it. But today it just really hit me how horrible the things I'd done were. I'm so sorry for what I did. I can't believe you all still love me after that."

"Well we do," Lua said firmly, planting several kisses on Doyeon's face. "You're our Doyeon, and life wouldn't be the same without you."

After several more rounds of reassurance, Doyeon seemed to finally believe that she wasn't a horrible person and they really did love her. Finally, though, Suyeon had to put a stop to everything. "As much as I'm enjoying lying on the floor cuddling you," she said, "Manager-nim will be here to pick us up for a promo in about an hour, and you need to go get a shower."

Doyeon looked down at herself. Her clothes were soaked with sweat from her run and then with tears on top of that. "I guess I am kind of a mess," she said, laughing. Sei leaned forward and hugged her tightly.

"We're all kind of a mess sometimes," she softly said in Doyeon's ear, "but it's okay."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Their promo that night was at a taekwondo tournament. They were responsible for announcing the competitors before each match and then for putting the medals around the winners' necks at the end of the tournament. Whenever one of Doyeon's girlfriends would pass her during the course of their duties, they give her a smile and a whispered "Love you!" By the end of the evening, Doyeon had never felt quite so loved.

As they walked out to the van after the tournament, Manager-nim asked Lucy "I know that wasn't sumo, but did you enjoy it?"

Lucy nodded enthusiastically. "I had a lot of fun - it was a much better promo than going on the radio again and answering the same interview questions we've already answered a hundred times."

Manager-nim laughed. "But you still have to do radio promos," she said. "In fact, you've got one tomorrow evening, after dance practice tomorrow morning and school tomorrow afternoon."

By this time Lucy and Manager-nim had reached the van. The others were already there and had gotten in already, thanks to Suyeon grabbing Manager-nim's keys. Suyeon was sitting in the front seat, waiting for Lua and Sei to decide what radio station they wanted to listen to. Rina and Elly were in one of the middle seats, quietly talking about something. Lucy climbed in and joined Yoojung and Doyeon in the back seat. Doyeon had already leaned against the window and fallen asleep.

"She's had a rough day," Lucy said.

Yoojung nodded. "She really has, but I think it was a good thing to have happen." Yoojung leaned back against Lucy and looked fondly over at Doyeon.

"I'm really glad we all ended up in Weki Meki,' Lucy said, leaning back in the seat as Manager-nim pulled onto the highway. She put her arm around Yoojung and hugged the smaller girl.

"I can't imagine anywhere I'd rather be," Yoojung said quietly.

"You wouldn't rather still be in I.O.I.?" Lucy asked.

Yoojung thought quietly for a moment. "Not at all," she said. "I.O.I. was nice, and who knows what we would have developed into if we had had enough time, but after everything we've been through together in Weki Meki, you really can't compare the two." From the front of the van, they could hear Sei and Lua quietly singing along with IU's "Not Spring, Love, or Cherry Blossoms." Yoojung closed her eyes, leaned against Lucy, and drifted off to sleep.


	51. Chapter 51

Doyeon managed to get the others to agree to spend their next afternoon off on a whole-band game of basketball, unnies against maknaes. This made for a more or less even matchup: The unnies had Doyeon and Suyeon, the two best players in the group, on their team, but they also had Elly. Elly had many talents, but basketball wasn't one of them. She was halfway decent at defense, but not much good at passing, shooting, or dribbling. And to be honest, most of her defense skills boiled down to a knack for getting in the way. Still, she loved to play, so whenever anyone was getting together a game of basketball, she was always the first to jump in.

This was their third game of the afternoon - unnies had won the first game, maknaes had won the second, and now the maknaes were up ahead, 19 to 18. Rina got the ball, but couldn't get around Doyeon., so she passed to Sei. She turned toward the basket and found Elly in her way. Elly knocked the ball out of her hands. Suyeon grabbed the ball before it could go out of bounds, faded back behind the three-point line, and shot. The ball seemed to hang in the air forever before falling suddenly, swishing through the net without touching the rim.

"Yes!" Yoojung jumped up and down, clapping her hands.

"All right everybody," Doyeon called out as she grabbed the ball and tucked it under her arm. "Unnies won the day so we get to shower first. Rina's fixing dinner tonight and has promised to debut her new dish, and since Lua doesn't know better than to bet against the unnies, she'll be taking my turn at doing dishes tonight."

"Hey," Lucy called back, "I once got out of a month of doing chores by betting against the unnies!"

"Against one unnie," Doyeon responded. "Not against all of us."

The good-natured trash-talking continued as the girls gathered up all their stuff and headed back toward the dorm. Sei took Suyeon's hand, interlacing her fingers with the leader's, and gradually slowed down until the two of them were walking alone.

"So tell me something," Sei said, looking over at Suyeon. "That game of basketball you lost to me - did I really beat you that badly, or was there something else going on there?"

Suyeon, covered her face with her good hand, trying to hide her blushing. "You beat me that badly," she admitted, "and there was something else going on there."

"So. . . what? . . . You threw the game so I'd do a makeover on you?" Sei asked.

Suyeon shook her head. "No, I was playing all out," she said, "I just. . . kept getting lost staring at you and next thing you know, you'd scored again."

Sei scoffed. "You were staring at me?"

Suyeon nodded, a faraway look in her eyes as she remembered that day. "Oh yeah. You were hot that day."

"Okay, now I know you're lying to me," Sei said, shaking her head. "I'm cute. On a good day, I can manage to pull off pretty. But I have never, ever been hot."

Suyeon pulled Sei toward her and leaned over to plant a kiss on her cheek. "Then I wish you could see yourself through my eyes," she said, "because I totally think you're hot."

Sei blushed. "It's sweet of you to say you. I still think you're just messing with me, but it's still sweet."

"You don't believe me?" Suyeon challenged her. "Ask any of your girlfriends, they'll tell you the same thing. You may not see it yourself, but you are totally hot."

Sei shook her head. "No way," she said. "I'm not fishing for compliments here, I just know my limits - I'm cute, I'm pretty, I'm not hot."

Suyeon laughed. "If you really believe that, then you won't mind putting a week's chores on the line."

Sei turned around and looked down at her. "What did you have in mind?"

"Ask any - no, ask all your girlfriends. If any of them says you're not hot, I'll do your chores for a week. But if all 6 say you're hot, you've got to do my chores for the week."

Sei turned this over in her head. "Okay," she said. "But you can't tell them about the bet - if they know there's a bet on, it might skew the results."

"Fair enough," Suyeon said, and they shook on it.

"Oh yeah!" Sei said as she started back up the stairs. "I'm going to enjoy a week of no chores!"

"We'll see," Suyeon said. "Don't go making any firm plans.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Sei decided to start with Lua. That should be her path to an easy win right there. As Sei's roommate, Lua had seen her at her worst - just woken up, no makeup, struggling with a cold. There was absolutely no way Lua would say she's hot. Especially not while washing dishes, her least favorite chore in the world.

"More dishes, coming in," Sei said, adding a frying pan and a mixing bowl to the plates already in the sink.

"Is that everything?" Lua asked, exasperated, "because I swear Rina must have used every knife we own."

"We only own three knives," Sei responded, leaning on the counter next to the sink.

"Yeah, and she used 'em all." Lua rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, apparently taking care of the itch, but also leaving behind a small blob of bubbles.

"Lua," Sei said, wiping the bubbles off Sei's nose with the dish towel, "tell me something - and I want you to tell me the truth, okay?"

"O---kay," Lua said, looking cautiously at Sei.

"Would you say I'm hot?" Just asking the question made Sei feel so self-conscious.

Lua scoffed. "Duh. Of course. Didn't last night convince you of that?"

Sei shook her head. "No, not like that. Imagine you're not my girlfriend. Just as an impartial observer, would you say I'm hot?"

Lua nodded an exaggerated noted. "Yes! Do you even read your fanmail?"

"Well, yeah, but, we all get fanmail like that."

Lua shook her head. "But apparently you get the best ones - Yoojung reads everyone's fanmail, and I know for a fact that she's saved a number of your for 'recreational reading,' if you know what I mean." She paused. "And that blush tells me you do!"

Sei swatted playfully at Lua, trying to hide her blushing.

"What's this all about, anyway?" Lua asked.

"It's nothing," Sei said. Lua stared at her doubtingly until she went on. "Really, it's nothing. Suyeon and I have a stupid bet."

"And you're losing so far," Lua ventured.

See nodded.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Sei and Lucy were sitting in Lucy's room doing their nails when Sei popped the question.

"Hell yes I think you're hot," Lucy said, her face a mask of stunned disbelief that there could be any doubt about the matter.

"But not, like, sexy-hot, right?" Sei pressed. "Not hot like Rina. You'd say I'm more cute or pretty than hot, wouldn't you?"

Lucy looked at Sei as if Sei was having a difficult time comprehending a concept that was so simple it shouldn't even need to be explained. "Of course you're a different kind of hot from Rina," Lucy said. "Rina's got that 'Jenny from Blackpink' glamour girl thing going on. You. . . you're like the girl next door. Yes, you're cute and you're pretty, but then one day they just look at you and it's like 'How did I miss that? She is totally hot.'"

"Now you're just messing with me," Sei said, closing the polish and blowing on her nails.

Lucy tried to raise an eyebrow - Sei had been trying to teach her how, but she wasn't quite managing yet. "Yeah, I'm messing with you." She shook her head. "How does that even work? I mean, really - you've got me totally confused now. You're already my girlfriend, so I've got no incentive to lie about it, and even if I did have the incentive, there's still the fact that you're totally smoking hot!"

Sei narrowed her eyes. "Suyeon put you up to this, didn't she?"

Lucy shook her head. "What are you even talking about? I haven't talked to Suyeon since before the basketball game." Lucy paused for a second, then a look of recognition came over her face. "You made a bet with Suyeon, and now you're losing." She laughed. "You should know better by now - no one knows people like Suyeon!"

Sei scowled and rushed out of the room. Lucy made a mental note to ask Suyeon about this bet the next time she saw her.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Sei ran into Yoojung and Doyeon's room. Yoojung was there, reading a book, but Doyeon was out. Upon seeing the expression on Sei's face, Yoojung put down her book and leaned toward her, extending her arms to embrace her.

"Sei, what's wrong?" she asked. "You look really upset about something?"

Sei looked at Yoojung. Yoojung had been in I.O.I. She'd been in WJMK. She'f been around any number of beautiful women. Plus she was smart - probably the smartest one out of all her members. If anyone could be counted on to know the difference between hot and merely pretty, it was Yoojung.

"Yoojung-unnie," Sei said quietly, sitting down on the bed next to Yoojung. "I've got to ask you something and I need you to be totally 100% honest. No, 1000% honest. Even if you think your answer might upset me, I need you to be totally honest - this is important, and I'd rather learn the answer from someone like you than from some random stranger."

Yoojung nodded. "Okay."

"I'm serious, unnie," Sei went on. "I need to you to be totally 1 million percent honest about this, no matter what. It won't make things any better if you tell even the littlest, whitest lie to try to save my feelings."

Yoojung was starting to get really worried - what could possibly have Sei so upset? "Yes, absolutely," she reassured, "totally, 100 kajillion percent honestly. But what's the question?"

After Sei had asked the question, Yoojung had to struggle to control her face - she would have burst out laughing if only Sei wasn't so deadly serious. Taking a deep breath, Yoojung ventured to try to talk. "A thousand percent honest - I totally think you're hot."

Sei shook her head. "No, unnie. You must have misunderstood the question. I meant hot like sexy, not like cute or pretty. Like, you know. . . hot."

Yoojung shook her head, allowing a slight smile to play over her lips. "No, you must have misunderstood the answer. I totally think you're hot like sexy."

Sei sat quietly, at a loss for words. "I just don't see it," she said, shaking her head.

"I can't help what you see. Or don't see. But you asked me to be totally honest, and I did that." Yoojung reached out and stroked Sei's arm. "We can't see ourselves the way others see us, so you'll just have to trust me, okay?"

Sei nodded quietly. She got up and left the room. Yoojung had never seen anyone look so sad to receive a compliment.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Sei walked into Suyeon's room. "You win," she said. "Give me your chore slips for the next week."

Suyeon looked up at her. "You asked all your girlfriends?"

Sei shook her head. "I asked Lua and Lucy and Yoojung.

"I'm not going to even bother asking Doyeon, because apparently you're right."

Suyeon shook her head. "No. I don't want there to be any doubt in your mind about this. I want you to ask Doyeon too." She gestured toward Elly's bed, where Doyeon was sitting reading a magazine.

"Ask Doyeon what?" Doyeon asked, looking up from her magazine as if startled.

"Is Sei hot?" Suyeon asked.

Doyeon laughed. "Oh good! I thought you were going to ask me something I didn't know the answer to." After several seconds of laughter, she realized that they were still looking at her, actually wanting her answer. "Uh, yes? Of course!"

Suyeon looked at Sei and nodded. Sei sat down on the bed next to Suyeon and leaned on her, sighing loudly.

"What's wrong?" Suyeon asked.

Sei shook her head. "Nothing."

"I would have thought you'd be happy to find out all your girlfriends think you're hot."

Sei sighed. "I am."

Suyeon looked at Doyeon, who shrugged, and then at Sei. "But you don't seem happy," she said, her confusion evident in her voice.

"It's like. . . " Sei stopped short, then took a deep breath and tried again. "It's just . . . " She shook her head and tried again. "Imagine you had a favorite group, but you'd only head them, never seen them. And from the sound of their songs you'd formed an image in your head of them as a soft, cute concept. Then one day you actually see them, and discover they're actually like a total girl crush concept, and not at all like you imagined." Suyeon and Doyeon were looking at her, their confusion evident on their face, so she pressed on, trying to explain further. "And you've still got the idea in your head of them as a cute concept, but here they are in front of you in reality as a girl crush concept. And you liked the idea you had of them" - she started talking faster and louder, obviously frustrated - "and you don't know what to do with that idea now that you're face to face with the reality and you don't know how to deal with the new reality." Suyeon still looked confused. Doyeon came and sat on Sei's other side, holding her hand, but looking just as confused as Suyeon. Finally, Sei thought she had found the words to express what she was feeling. "I don't know how to be hot! I've always been told that I was cute and pretty, and that's what I came to expect. I figured that hot, if it happened to me at all, would happen when I was older. Well, now I am older, and I'm in a relationship with five beautiful, hot women, and I discover that they all see me as hot, and I don't know how to act. I don't know how to be hot!"

Suyeon and Doyeon both hugged Sei at once. "You don't have to do anything!" Suyeon said. "You were already hot without ever realizing it."

"But," Suyeon added, "if it'd make you feel better we could do a makeover on you, try to make you see it."

Sei looked back and forth from one to the other of them. "A makeover's always fun," she said.

"Then let's go to your room," Suyeon said, "your makeup collection puts mine to shame."


	52. Chapter 52

Preparations for the new comeback were about to start, so Fantagio gave all the members of Weki Meki a week off to go visit their families. They sent the occasional picture or text message over the course of the week, but mainly they were too busy with parents and siblings. Finally the week ended and they all started getting on trains headed back to Seoul. Since Suyeon and Lucy were both from Goyang, they made plans to ride the train together. They were looking for each other in the station, but having trouble finding each other because of all the people. Several times Suyeon thought she saw Lucy at the other end of the platform, but while the woman she saw was the right height, she was older than Lucy and - somehow - even prettier than Lucy. Every time she caught site of her, Suyeon felt her breath taken away. Just before train was about to leave, Suyeon heard someone calling out "Ji Suyeon! I'm down here!" She looked around to identify the source of the voice and realized that the woman at the other end of the platform actually was Lucy! She was rushed down the platform and caught Lucy up in a hug just before it was time to board the train.

"It's a good thing you saw me," Suyeon said, "because I'd already seen you and said 'no, that can't be Lucy!"

Lucy's eyebrows rose in surprise. "What?" she asked, "Why would you say that?"

"Because you've gotten prettier over the past week," Suyeon said, looking deep into Lucy's eyes.

Lucy blushed. "You must have missed me while we were apart," she said, "I'm still the same Lucy you said good-bye to as we got off the train last week."

Suyeon shook her head. "I'm serious! You look different!"

Lucy shook her head and laughed. "Whatever," she said, "I'm just happy to see you." She reached out and touched Suyeon's hand. She knew she had to be more careful when they were away from Seoul - they were more visible, so dating clause violations would be more likely to get noticed - but she just felt the need to touch Suyeon.

The train pulled out of the station, going from stationary to moving with only the slightest of lurches. Lucy and Suyeon were looking out the window, comparing their favorite attractions and stores in Goyang - Lucy's favorites were the Aerospace Museum and the Hyundai store, while Suyeon's were the Theme Park Zoo Zoo and the Lotte store.

Just then they were startled by Yoojung sitting down in the seat opposite Lucy and saying "Theme Park Zoo Zoo really does sound kind of awesome. We'll have to go there some time."

Suyeon recovered the ability to speak first. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "This train doesn't go to Guri. There's a train you should have taken that would have taken you straight to Seoul."

"But this goober," Sei said, flopping down in the seat next to Yoojung, "insisted that I get up at 6 today to take the train from Ansan to Guri, so that we could take the train together from Guri to Goyang, so we could hide in the newsstand and pretend to browse until we saw you."

Lucy laughed. "That is awesome! I'm so glad you guys did that!" Lucy suddenly realized Yoojung was staring at her. "What?" she asked, looking down in case she had gotten something on her clothes.

Yoojung asked if Lucy had changed her hair or her makeup, both of which Lucy said she hadn't. "I don't know what it is," Yoojung said, "you're just - don't take this the wrong way - prettier than you were when we said good-bye last week."

"I know, right?" Sei said. "I hadn't wanted to say anything, because I thought it was just me."

"No," Suyeon said, leaning forward in excitement, "I told her the same thing - I almost didn't recognize her at the station."

"You guys," Lucy said, blushing, "I'm just me. Really." She scrunched down a little in her seat and brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Suyeon reached over and hugged Lucy. "Don't get self-conscious," she said. "It's a good thing. I don't know how to put it into words. There's just a new sort of. . ." She paused, having difficulty finding the right words.

"Elegance," Sei put in.

Suyeon nodded. "Elegance. Exactly." She rubbed Lucy's shoulders, trying to get the younger girl to stop hiding her face in her hands. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Yoojung was texting up a storm. "What's all the about?" Suyeon asked her.

Without stopping texting, Yoojung said "My mom gave me some money to take the OT6 out to lunch today, since she didn't get to meet you all over the holiday. I'm texting Doyeon and Lua, trying to find out when their trains will get in and to set up a meeting place so we can all go eat together."

Lucy's eyebrows shot up. "You told your mom about OT6?"

Yoojung stopped texting for a moment to look at her. Shrugging, she said, "Sure - why wouldn't I?"

Lucy leaned back. "I don't think my parents are ready for that," she said. "They just think I'm dating Sei." She looked over at Sei. "Remind me when we get back to the dorm - my mom gave me some socks for you. They're in my suitcase."

Sei looked pleased with this idea, but then looked troubled at the next thought that came into her head. "At least you're sort of out to your parents. My parents don't even know I'm gay. They'd disown me if they knew about OT6."

Everyone rushed to express their sympathy for Sei. "If your parents did that, my mom would probably want to adopt you," Lucy said. "Some days I think she likes you more than she likes me."

Sei looked up and looked at all the others. "I did come out to my big brother, though," she said. "Not about everything. Just about being gay. He's cool with it." She nodded. "Plus, he knows if he says anything to Mom and Dad about it, I'll tell them that he's living with his girlfriend and not with 3 guys from his engineering class like they think."

They all got a good laugh out of this idea. When the laughter died down, Lucy turned to Suyeon and asked "What about you? Are you out to your family?"

Suyeon took a deep breath and sighed. "It's complicated," she said. "My dad's a lot older than my mom, and he's got a lot of old-fashioned ideas. I came out to my mom about OT6, and she's totally cool with the idea - though she did say she hopes I'll find a way to give her grandchildren when I'm older - but she said my dad's not ready yet. She said she'd work on him and let me know when he's ready." Suyeon sighed again. "I hope it's soon," she said, "I want you all to meet him."

Sei looked at Suyeon, her eyes wide. "We're going to have to do that, aren't we?" she asked rhetorically. "We're going to have to find a way to give our parents grandchildren when it's time."

"Yeah, but that's going to be years from now," Suyeon said. "Who knows if we'll even still be together then?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" Lucy asked in shock.

Suyeon shrugged. "A lot can happen in ten years. You just never know."

"Well, I know," Lucy said, sitting up straighter and raising her voice slightly. "I know that I'd never want to be without any of you. I know-"

Before Lucy could get started on a rant, Yoojung interrupted her. "Okay. Doyeon will be waiting for us when our train gets there, then we'll all have to wait around for 20 minutes for Lua's train to arrive, then we're all going to BBQ Olive Chicken Cafe."

"Goblin Chicken!" Lucy exclaimed. Lucy had wanted to try this restaurant's chicken ever since she'd seen it featured on the drama "Goblin."

"It's going to be good seeing everybody again," Sei said. "I've missed all of you so much! I mean, it was nice getting to see my parents and my brother, but otherwise, there's really nothing in Ansan for me. There are four universities in Ansan, so it feels like all the young people there are just rushing to graduate so they can leave Ansan and go to Seoul."

"And you've already left," Suyeon said.

Sei nodded. "Exactly. That's just the kind of place Ansan is - it's a place people are from. My brother and I both knew that we would leave Ansan someday."

"What school is your brother going to?" Yoojung asked.

"Hanyang University, ERICA campus. He'll graduate next year."

"Who's Erica?" Lucy asked, a confused look on her face. "And why did they name a university after her?"

"It's an acronym," Sei said, laughing slightly. "It stands for Education Research Industry Cluster at Ansan."

"Oh," Lucy said.

"He's studying robotics," Sei said. She closed her eyes as she thought of her brother. "He's kind of like the big brother in Big Hero Six." she said fondly.

"I loved that movie!" Yoojung said.

Just then the conductor came over the loudspeaker. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived in Seoul. Please gather your belongings and be ready to exit the train."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theme Park Zoo Zoo is an actual thing and it sounds awesome!  http://getoutintherok.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-favorite-place-so-far-theme-park-zoo.html


	53. Chapter 53

Sei, Suyeon, Yoojung, and Lucy gathered up their bags and got off the train. All the people getting off the train scattered, going their separate ways. The girls all stayed together, looking for Doyeon. Yoojung spotted her first, but Doyeon put her finger to her mouth for silence. Doyeon sneaked up behind Sei, grabbed her by the waist, and picked her up and spun her around.

"Oh, I've missed you all so much!" Doyeon said, putting Sei down and putting her arm around her shoulders. Sei leaned against her and put her arm around Doyeon's waist.

"We're happy to see you too," Sei said. "Did you have a good time in Wonju?"

Doyeon nodded. "My parents were thrilled to see me, and my brother and sister were both home from university. My parents took us to see Wonju DB Promy play basketball."

"I bet that was fun," Lucy said.

Doyeon nodded. "It was much better than watching them on TV. And my parents bought shirts for all of us."

"So you came out to your parents?" Sei asked.

"They were a little confused at first, but once I explained it, they were happy for me. They want you all to come visit next time we get a break." Doyeon smiled at the thought of her family and her girlfriends meeting up.

"That sounds great," Suyeon said. "Who knows when our next break will be, though. We're about to have a new round of promotions, and if those go well, we might do another round before our next break."

Doyeon shrugged. "That's okay - whenever we get a break, my family will still be there."

Sei leaned closer to Doyeon. "I wish I could be out to my parents like that."

Doyeon hugged her. "Someday you'll be able to."

"I hope so," Sei said sadly.

"Well, we can worry about that later," Yoojung said. "Right now we've got to get down to platform 4 to wait for Lua's train."

They walked down to the other end of the station, Sei holding Doyeon's hand the whole way. When they got there, they waited, talking quietly amongst themselves, until Lua's train arrived. When the train came in, they watched until they saw Lua get off the train. Lucy ran up to her and gave her a hug.

"What happened to your eye?" Lucy asked, upon noticing that Lua was wearing an eyepatch over her right eye.

"I got a stupid stye on my eye," Lua said. "It doesn't hurt much, but the doctor said I have to wear this stupid eyepatch until it clears up." She shifted the satchel she was carrying from one shoulder to the other and looked shyly up at Lucy. "It's not fair," she said in a teasing tone of voice, "we go away for a week, I get a stupid eyepatch, and you get more beautiful."

"Stop it! Just stop it!" Lucy backed away from Lua, clenching her fists and squeezing her eyes shut in an effort to stop the tears that came anyway. "I don't know why you thought this would be funny, but it's not, and you need to stop right now!"

Doyeon and Lua looked at each other, at a total loss for an explanation for what had just happened. Sei, Suyeon, and Yoojung recognized what had set Lucy off, though, and immediately clustered around her.

"No one's trying to do anything," Sei said, trying to take hold of Lucy's hand, only to have Lucy pull it away. "No one's making fun of you. This is all just our honest opinions."

Suyeon held her phone up in front of Lucy's face. "Here," she said, "watch this." Lucy opened her eyes and Suyeon pressed play on a video called "Weki Meki Lucy Line Evolution." In a little over a minute, it showed the changes in Lucy as she evolved from the young, silly Lucy of the "I Don't Like Your Girlfriend" era into the sassy Lucy of the "La La La" era and then into the composed, mature Lucy of the "Crush" era. "You see," Suyeon said, "that's what the Ki-Lings see happening to you. None of us could see it because we were always with you, but once we were apart for a week, we were able to see how you'd changed and grown."

"So you weren't teasing me?" Lucy asked.

Yoojung leaned against Lucy and looked up at her. "Do you really think we'd do that?"

Lucy sniffled and looked around at all her girlfriends. "Well," she said quietly, "Doyeon might."

"And Doyeon's the only one who didn't say anything about how much you've changed," Sei said, finally managing to capture Lucy's hand.

"I was going to," Doyeon piped up, "but I was going to wait until we got to the restaurant."

Lucy smiled as she blinked away the last of her tears. "And you all really feel that way about me?"

"Yes!" "Of course!" "Didn't we say so?" The others all chimed in their agreement.

"Well, that's really sweet," she said, reclaiming her hand from Sei so she could wipe away the tears, "but I really just think you're making a big deal over nothing."

"No," Suyeon said, pulling a tissue out of her purse and wiping away a stray smudge of mascara from Lucy's face, "we're making a big deal over you."

Lucy blinked away the tears that were threatening to return. "Awww, Suyeon! That's so sweet! I would give you a hug but. . . " She tried to lift her arms, but between Sei holding one and Yoojung having latched onto the other, she couldn't.

"You owe me one, then," Suyeon said.

"You owe all of us one!" Lua said. "You can't give Suyeon all the hugs!"

"I think you're all forgetting something," Yoojung said. Once she saw she had all of their attention, she said in a sing-song voice "Goblin Chicken!"

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

"OK," the waitress said as she put the plates down on their table, "that's one Golden Olive Chicken, one Golden Olive Hot and Spicy, one Gang Jeong, one Cheesling, and one Honey Garlic, plus fries. Can I get you anything else?"

Yoojung looked around the table. "Some kimchi, some pickled radishes, and some more beer, please."

"Coming right up," the waitress said, making a note on her pad.

"This all looks delicious," Suyeon said. "Please be sure to thank your mom for us."

"I'll do better than that," Yoojung said. "If you'll scoot closer together, I'll take your picture and send it to her."

They had just finished taking the picture when the waitress came back with the rest of their food and another pitcher of beer. "If you need anything else, just let me know," she said.

Doyeon tried to get Lucy to try a piece of the spicy chicken, but Lucy steadfastly refused, sticking with the Cheesling and the honey garlic. The chicken was all so delicious that they were too busy eating to talk. They were almost finished when Yoojung's phone pinged. "It's a text from my mom," she said. "She says 'Your girlfriends are all beautiful. Enjoy the chicken, and all of you come visit when you get a chance.'"

"Your mom is so cool," Sei said. "If that was my mom, she'd be saying 'Don't ever come home. You're bringing disgrace upon the family.'"

"Awww," Lucy said, "your mom can't be that bad, can she?"

"Wanna bet?" Sei called down to Lua, who was at the other end of the table. "Lua, you've met my mom. What did you think of her?"

Lua shuddered. "Oooh, she's scary."

Sei look back at Lucy. "And that's from meeting my mom for one afternoon when we were trainees."

"Well, maybe," Lucy admitted. "But maybe she'll surprise you."

"Come on everyone," Suyeon said. "We've got to get our luggage out of the lockers at the train station and get back to the dorm. We've got a big day tomorrow - new songs, new dance routines. We've got to get ready for our next comeback!"

They gathered up the leftovers to take back to the dorm and, thanking their waitress on the way out, they were on their way.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Rina and Elly were sitting in the kitchen of their dorm, waiting for the budae jjigae they were making to come to a boil.

"I wonder where everyone else is," Rina said, opening the curtain and looking out the window.

"Probably enjoying the last few hours of vacation," Elly said.

Rina leaned over and kissed Elly as she stirred the stew. "They're probably not having nearly as good a time as we are."

Elly put down the spoon, turned and wrapped her arms around Rina, and kissed her long and deeply, ending with nibbling on her bottom lip. "Probably not," she said, "but I bet they're trying."

Just then the door opened and the other girls poured into the dorm. "Mmmmm," Lucy said, "something smells good."

"I'm learning to make budae jjigae," Rina said proudly.

"So no more kimchi fried rice?" Lua asked.

"I didn't say that," Rina said. "I'm still learning."

"I've got left over Goblin Chicken, just in case," Yoojung said as she put the box in the refrigerator.

"We won't need it," Elly said, "Rina's done a great job with the stew."

"Then we can have Goblin Chicken for breakfast tomorrow," Lucy said, dancing in place.

Elly looked over at Lucy. "There's something different about y--. . . "

Suyeon, Yoojung, and Sei all shushed her at once.


End file.
